


The Six Dolls

by KurtsAnatomy (TheSwanOfWinterfell)



Category: Glee, Pretty Little Liars, The Good Wife (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, He is Kurt Montgomery, Kurt is Aria's twin brother, Kurt is not Kurt Hummel, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-04-30 11:14:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5161760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSwanOfWinterfell/pseuds/KurtsAnatomy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt Montgomery, along with his five best friends, finds his world utterly shaken up with a new enemy threatens to unravel their pasts and destroy their futures. With love and danger intertwining and new surprises around every corner, can the six friends survive their ordeal and make it out of Rosewood alive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Enemy

_Part I- Aria_

Aria Montgomery had always loved going to bars.

Not for the abundance of alcohol or the corny karaoke nights, but for the people watching she often entertained there.

All different kinds of people would show up there for whatever reason and Aria simply loved just observing them, trying to find reason for why they would be there. Most of the time, Aria realised that people were just there to drink, but there would be times when people would show up and drown their sorrows away in the vast presence of alcohol. It was quite a sight to behold sometimes.

Alternatively, there were also people who arrived purely because they had nowhere else to go at that present time.

Like her.

School was about to start, her junior year, and she had nothing to do. The last day of summer vacation and she was bored. Aria had spent the rest of the summer hanging out with her best friends and her twin brother, but none of them were available that day. Aria was kind of glad. She loved them dearly, but she needed some time to refresh herself before the school year began.

She took a seat at the bar and waited patiently for the bartender to come and serve her. She was not there for the alcoholic beverages, but she _was_ hungry.

"Can I get a veggie burger please?" She asked politely. The man nodded and went to prepare it.

"It's nice to know that somebody else appreciates veggie burgers," A voice called to her from across the bar. Aria turned and gasped.

In her line of sight was a beautiful man with blue eyes and a charming smile that lit up the room. He was staring directly at her with a grin. Aria's stomach did a flip as she realised that he was the epitome of Prince Charming.

"Yeah, well, when you don't eat meat and your little brother worships burger joints, you sort of have to make your peace with them," Aria explained briefly. The man laughed. Aria noted that he couldn't have been more than four years older than her. He had a boyish charm about him which she appreciated, but also a seemingly vast wealth of intelligence behind his ice blue eyes.

"I'm Ezra," Ezra introduced warmly.

"Aria," Aria replied; she was surprised that there was no formal handshaking or whatnot. It was just two people talking at a bar.

"What a lovely name," Ezra remarked which made Aria blush. Her name was relatively uncommon; sure she had heard many compliments about the eccentricity of it or how nice it sounded, but a compliment from Ezra really seemed to beat out all of the rest of them.

"Thank you. My mother chose it."

From there, Aria was surprised with how many topics they flew through. Literature, fashion, entertainment, music. They seemed to discuss their entire lives and Aria had not even realised that her burger arrived in front of her.

"Your banquet, milady," Ezra pointed to her burger and curly fries with a smirk.

"Oh, I didn't even notice," Aria said sheepishly as she grabbed a curly fry. She pushed the plate between them as a gesture of sharing and Ezra smiled gratefully, grabbing a few fries for himself.

"So what have you majored in?" Ezra asked and Aria paled.

He assumed very presumptuously that she was in college. Sure, she didn't look sixteen, but neither did she look twenty one or thereabouts. Aria thought for a short moment about her reply. She didn't know whether to lie and make up a major or stick to what she thought that she was going to major in. It wouldn't be a _lie_ , per say, but more of a prediction.

"I'm learning toward English," She admitted and his face lit up. She felt as though she had just won a grand prize.

"That's what I'm teaching!" Ezra sounded delighted that they were in the same field.

Aria could not explain her overwhelming desire to kiss this beautiful stranger that had complimented her food choices, but it was there, burning and itching. So she did something that she had never ever predicted that she would do. "I'm going to go to the bathroom now…and you know, that's where I'll be." She ghosted a hand across his shoulder and swung her hips as she walked. She just knew that Ezra would follow. Not in an arrogant way, but just a connection that she felt. She knew that he had felt it too.

Aria had barely even closed the door to the bathroom when it had opened again. Ezra stood, radiating lust, and she could not hold out any longer.

Their lips connected with a fiery passion, hands frantically wandering across each other's bodies in a haze of lust. Aria's fingers wove through Ezra's hair as his found her waist. She jumped up on the sink counter and wrapped her legs around him, pulling him in closer to her. She tugged at the bottom of his shirt but, before he could whip it off, her phone buzzed rapidly in her pocket.

She had a rule with her brother: never ignore a phone call or a text message. It was imperative in their family that they could always contact each other.

Aria unlocked her phone and read the text message that waited for her.

_Ever wonder what the people closest to you are hiding? They said blood is thicKer than water, bUt whoeveR said thaT obviously had never met the Montgomery's. –A._

Aria stared at the text for a moment and paled. She had always been one for puzzles and riddles so, when one was presented right in front of her nose, she could figure it out easily. The capitalised letters spelled out a name.

Kurt.

Her twin brother.

As Aria puzzled over what Kurt could be hiding, she shook her head, realising that Ezra was probably looking at her like she was mad. There they were, about to hook up when she started to pay more attention to her cellular device than to the gorgeous man in front of her. "I'm sorry, Ezra. I have to go and deal with this." She _really_ regretted having to go but, if Kurt needed her, she would be there.

"No worries. I don't suppose I could get your number…maybe call you so we can finish where we left off?" His hand trailed up her thigh. Aria shivered at the contact and nodded unevenly.

"Yeah, of course."

They traded phones and inputted their respective phone numbers in them.

"I guess I'll see you around," Ezra winked before leaving the bathroom.

Aria slipped her phone back inside her pocket and left the bar, driving towards her home with a worried expression on her face the whole way there.

Was Kurt in trouble? Usually, she got a bad feeling in her gut when Kurt was hurt. It was some sort of twin connection thing, according to Spencer Hastings, one of her best friends and the smartest person she knew. Aria had no feeling in her gut. A small voice in the back of her mind suggested that Kurt was _causing_ the trouble and that theory had correlated with the text from –A that Aria had received.

_Ever wonder what the people closest to you are hiding?_

It was not like Kurt to keep secrets from her. They grew up joined at the hip, they told each other everything. Aria was the first person to know that Kurt was gay and Kurt was the first person to be consulted when Aria had put a pink streak in her hair. Kurt's instincts had tried to dissuade her from completing the highlights and she had not listened. She didn't regret it, though. Her individuality was something she admired about herself. There wasn't a lot of that to go around in Rosewood.

As she parked outside her house, she wondered what was lying in store for her and her brother and, more importantly, who this –A person was.

_Part II- Kurt_

Kurt cursed his scatter brained nature as he drove towards Hollis College with his father's lunch for the day. Ella, his mother, had prepared a special chicken salad sandwich and had left it on the island for Byron, his father, to take. Byron, as usual, had forgotten it, along with his wallet.

So, to make sure that Byron Montgomery, Professor of English, did not starve, Kurt had tasked with the errand of driving to the university and giving the Professor his food. Kurt gave himself some _Perfect Son_ points before he stopped his car, a Lincoln Navigator, outside the building. The recent renovations to the college had included a multi-million dollar library extension for the students which Kurt had frequented on many occasions after visiting his father.

In the past few months, however, Kurt had stopped visiting his father so much.

The reason being that Kurt and one of his best friends, Alison DiLaurentis, had discovered his father in his car kissing somebody who definitely was not Ella Montgomery in the backseat. Afterwards, Byron had reluctantly revealed that her name was Meredith Sorenson, a student of Byron's. Appalled, Kurt had Alison sworn to secrecy that she would not tell _anybody_ , especially not Aria. Alison had agreed but had advised Kurt to tell Ella before it was too late and he was stuck with the secret for too long. Kurt had taken Alison's advice but had not yet found an avenue to explore the possibility to telling his mother the secret. It would only cause discord in his relationship with Ella. Kurt was definitely closer to his mother and Aria was closer to his father. Their younger brother, Mike, was the baby of the family and, subsequently, both parents smothered him with love. Mike Montgomery was the type to crave attention from his parents and it was obvious to all of the family.

Sighing at father's erratic behaviour, Kurt skipped down the steps and continued on down the stairwell. Before he could go any further, he was stopped by a blonde figure coming up the steps towards him. Kurt narrowed his eyes at the unmistakable sight of the woman in question.

"Meredith Sorenson," Kurt's voice was low and direct. The woman stopped and her eyes widened in realisation, but only slightly.

"Oh, little Kurt. How are you?"

"Cut the shit, bitch. I'm going to say something to you and I am only going to say it once, so make sure you are listening clearly. You need to stay away from my family. I don't care what kind of feelings you have for my dad, you will leave him alone."

Meredith turned to him, snarling. "And I suppose that you're going to make me."

Kurt scoffed, examining his nails in depth. " _Please_. I have more important things to be doing than making sure you don't remain a whore for the rest of your life. I'm taking all AP classes, the drama club, choir, swimming and French club. You are not important."

"You're so high school, little boy. Wait until you get the big leagues."

"I don't need a diploma to know how much better than you I am, Meredith. Now stay the _fuck_ away from us and we shall have no more of this."

"You know, it takes two to maintain a relationship. Your dad is one of those two people."

"Really? I never knew that. Do you even realise how skanky it is to have a married man's tongue down your throat?"

"Don't talk to me that way."

"I'd do what I like considering you've probably ripped my family apart."

"Probably? Wait, Ella doesn't know? Oh, this is _perfect_ ," Meredith sneered. "I might pay Ella a visit myself."

"Don't you dare, you psychopathic bitch," Kurt shot back. Meredith tried to walk across Kurt, but Kurt's hands shot out instinctively.

Meredith fell, arching her back due to the contact her spine made with the step. She rolled all the way down the steps, splaying out on the floor. The area was deserted.

Kurt clapped a hand over his mouth and ran, skipping past the unconscious girl and dropping Byron's lunch in the trash on the way out. He ran down the halls, not encountering anybody and didn't stop until he got into his car.

"What the fuck did I just do?" Kurt whispered to himself being slamming his hand against the steering wheel. As he started the Navigator, his phone vibrated in his jacket pocket.

It was a text from _Blocked I.D._

_Keeping Daddy's secret AND pushing women down stairs leaves you on a slippery slope. Watch your back, Kurtie. You never know who's painted a target on it… -A_

Kurt figured that it would just be best to go home and forget about the text that he had just received rather than dwell on it. He would talk to Byron when he was home and not a minute sooner. He would have to create an alibi. Surely he would be Byron's prime suspect of who pushed Meredith.

When he was at home, Aria was already there.

"Hey," Kurt greeted quietly. Aria simply nodded back. Kurt thought that that was quite strange, given the close nature of their relationship.

"Kurt?" Aria asked eventually after a few minutes of a somewhat awkward silence.

"Yes?"

"What's going on?"

"Not now, Aria, please," Kurt pleaded, rubbing his head. He just wanted to be done with this entire mess surrounding Meredith Sorenson.

"I don't think this can wait. I got a text and—."

"A text? From –A?"

Aria nodded, bemused as to why Kurt got one too. "You too?"

"Yes and, before you ask, I would rather not talk about it."

"Good, because I can't. We need to stick together with this, though," Aria suggested wisely. Kurt frowned.

"But if we don't know what each other's texts are about, then how are we going to have each other's backs when we have secrets?"

"Good point. My…my text was about you," Aria breathed and showed Kurt the text. "What are you hiding?"

Kurt paled. "Nothing. Sorry, I won't lie. It's something, but telling you will honestly make it ten times worse. Could you trust me, Ari?" Kurt pouted.

Aria thought for a moment before nodding. "Of course I can," she whispered.

_Part III- Spencer_

Spencer Hastings was completely done with academics.

It was 5:43AM and she was still up from the previous day. The Adderall use had been going on for three months now and she was drowning. All of her AP classes were taxing, but it was the familial pressure that sent her over the edge. She could cope with school. She could _not_ cope with the internship for the mayor, taking extra credit classes at Hollis while at the same time juggling her extracurricular activities so that UPenn would even acknowledge her existence. Spencer knew that the fact that three of her family were alumni of the school would not count for much, even with the probably sizable donation that Veronica Hastings would offer following her acceptance into the school. After Melissa's acceptance, UPenn had mysteriously gained new funding for research purposes and a new building to accommodate the labs. Nobody had questioned the anonymous donor, but Spencer was wise to where the money had stemmed from.

Sometimes, Spencer actually enjoyed her extracurricular hobbies. She did the drama club with Kurt and they ruled it. She did hockey with Alison and they had a great time. Spencer was definitely the better player, but merely because she had more at stake. Alison played for fun. She had founded the Historical Societies Union at Rosewood High in an effort to bolster her application to the prestigious Ivy League School.

She tilted her head to the side, cracking her neck loudly and stretched her arms above her head. There was no sign of a yawn. Spencer simply was not tired. She was aching all over, but the fatigue had not yet kicked in. In about an hour, she would be curling up on top of her covers all but passed out from the pills.

Spencer sighed.

She had desperately tried to stop taking them. The only person that knew that she was on them was Kurt, who had seen them in her bag when he was looking for a mint. He had kept it a secret at her request but would not think to tell anybody anyway. It wasn't something one generally spread around the school. Kurt was definitely concerned about it though. He was coaching her privately, trying to get her to be less dependent on them. Spencer had explained that she could get through the school day and her hobbies, but spending time with her family was so emotionally and mentally draining that she was losing sight of why she even tried so hard in the first place. Kurt had been the one to give her the encouraging lecture she needed.

" _Spencer Hastings, no matter what you do in your life, you will do it perfectly. You're gorgeous, intelligent, determined, passionate and will reach heights most people in this town couldn't even see with a telescope. You don't have to go to UPenn if that's not where your heart lies. Screw your family if they don't support you. I know you want to go to Harvard, Spencer. Or Dartmouth. I've seen you enviously looking at the course brochures I have at my house. You can do it. I know you can."_

Spencer remembered that speech very vividly. It had empowered her and she had been so close to telling her parents about different choices for an Ivy League but Melissa had strutted in, flaunting her news about being nominated to serve on the Business School Committee at Wharton. Her motivation was gone and she was swallowed whole by the mouth of Melissa's shadow.

Spencer was so caught up in her memories that she had not noticed her mother, Veronica, lurking in the doorway, noticing that her bedroom light was still on. She wasn't about to reveal to her mother that she was on Adderall to help her study for Russian History. Spencer's eyes quickly darted up to the lightbulb in order to stall, creating time for a smooth lie. She wasn't particularly proud of her actions, but she branded them as necessary.

"Have you been up all night, Spencer?" Veronica asked predictably. By now, Spencer had already created a lie.

"No, I was reading and forgot to turn my light off, sorry Mom."

Veronica hummed. "Yes, well, don't forget we have that classy brunch with some administrative members of the Board of Governors from UPenn. They originally came to talk about Melissa, but they allowed some time for you to acquaint yourself ahead of next year's early admissions. With this introduction, you will be sure to get yourself a spot, providing that you keep up your GPA and extracurricular activities."

Spencer listened to her mother sound a lot like a preliminary acceptance letter from UPenn while her heart drifted to Dartmouth.

"Spencer! Are you listening to me?" Veronica snapped.

Spencer nodded obediently. "Yes."

"Good. Well, make sure you do your hair. And do something about those dark circles underneath your eyes, it makes you look crazy."

Spencer watched her walk away, clad in Gucci, and fell back onto her bed, seeing _To Kill A Mockingbird_ lying aimlessly on her pillow. She actually had been reading for a little while before she started more studying, but that was besides the point. Thinking of all of the work that she was already doing before the school year had even begun made Spencer restless. Suddenly, her copy of _To Kill A Mockingbird_ was being launched against her wardrobe, landing open with a resounding thud, which seemed to echo in her mind, taunting her.

Instinctively, Spencer checked her phone, seeing a new message on the home screen. Sliding her finger to open it, she squinted to read it.

 _Poor, strung out Spencer doesn't know how to cope with high school. AP English will be the least of your worries when I'm through with you, bitch... -A_.

Tossing her phone at her mattress, Spencer growled, thinking of the newest obstacle in her path to freedom from Rosewood. An anonymous text message person. _Great_.

At that moment, she resented wishing that she could be more like Blair Waldorf.

_Part IV- Emily_

Emily sat quietly as her pen flicked across the paper in fluid motions, her cursive handwriting filling the space of her journal, complicated thoughts whizzing through her mind and onto the page in front of her.

Emily had secretly spent a lot of journal entries writing frustrated passages about the increasingly cloudy topic that was her sexuality. She didn't know what she was but she still felt the need to label herself. Seeing Kurt so out and proud had inspired her to face her emotional truth and come out to her friends. Everybody took it very well, including the one person who Emily hoped would have a slightly different, more involved, reaction.

Alison Lauren DiLaurentis.

Her first love, she was sure of it. Nobody had enchanted her quite like Alison. Emily figured that if she spent as much time dreaming about Alison as she did focusing on school, Harvard would not even be a challenge. Emily was completely enamoured, caught up in everything 'Alison'. Her hair, the way she smiled, even down to her fingers.

Emily's latest journal entry was helping her deal with her feelings for Alison. It was clear to her that Alison did not feel the way that she herself did and she was beginning to make her peace with that. Kurt had been interested in people who did not return his feelings and he seemed to be dealing okay with it. Emily knew that the difference was the potency of the feelings involved. The way Emily saw it, she could quite easily marry Alison tomorrow if the other girl loved her back. That was the rub.

Emily's pen somehow never scratched across the surface like other fancy pens did. Her journal had magnificent presentation, though the irony was that she couldn't show off about it. Because the feelings were deeply personal. She could perhaps have shown it to Kurt, but even that was a bit of a stretch for her.

Emily wondered how she sounded poetic in her journal, yet completely sucked at Creative Writing. Every English assignment that required creativity from within her also required more attention from her to make it good. That was more Aria's forte.

_I only saw Alison briefly today and yet she somehow managed to become even more beautiful than she was before. I don't know how she does it. How does somebody become more beautiful overnight? I can't deal with how my heart races when I see her smile over at me. Or when she hugs me. It's more than I can handle. For most girls, Alison is the girl who they want to be or the girl who they want to be friends with so that they are protected under her spell of ice. Well she has me under a different spell. I'm pretty sure it's her eyes that do it all. She's completely encapsulating and it's starting to hurt. You know, the unrequited part of this whole situation._

_She's all I've ever wanted and she doesn't even seem to notice. Is this what love feels like? Always being on the verge of what your heart wants but never quite having it. I'm still so privileged to get to look at her every day of my life. And be her friend. Even though I'll always want to be more. I sometimes feel like I'm being forced to watch somebody glide across of a thick sheet of ice. And while I long to be skating, too, I'm trudging in the gravel, forced to travel a stony road while she gets to be graceful and enticing. I long for her to say something to me that reflects any sort of romantic feelings. Occasionally, I'll get these glances from her, and I'll feel like she feels how I feel. That makes no sense._

_It's like trying to explain a complicated equation when you know you don't know how to. But there's still somebody nodding along like they understand. That summarises my feelings for Alison. They're complicated and I know that she won't understand the way I feel, but sometimes I think that she might. I love_

Emily stopped writing as her phone bleeped for the third time in as many minutes. What was going on? The first two were unimportant emails, but the third one was something that Emily took a lot of notice of.

_Nobody tells you that when you fall for the Ice Queen, you run the risk of getting frozen. Don't say I didn't warn you. –A_

Emily bit her lip, shocked and scared that somebody might know her feelings. She wasn't out to the school. She briefly flirted with the idea that –A stood for 'Alison' and it was an anonymous way for her to acknowledge Emily's feelings and shoot her down without having to actually _do it_.

Realising that it was too farfetched, Emily sighed and closed her journal, stashing back into her secret hiding place. Nobody would find it there, not ever.

Her feelings were quasi safe, for now.

_Part V- Hanna_

"Do you want another drink, Sean?" Hanna asked, opening the refrigerator doors widely so that he could browse the options.

"Just some water, thanks."

Hanna ran the tap and filled the glass while Sean began laughing at something on his phone.

"What's so funny?" Hanna knew that she would regret asking, but her curiosity was piqued.

"Oh, nothing. Just something that Alison tweeted."

Hanna was internally screaming.

With Sean, it was all _Alison this, Alison that_. Sean was _her_ boyfriend.

However, she also knew that Alison was not even the least bit interested in Sean. Actually, Hanna was beginning to get the feeling that Alison was interested in Emily, but she would never say anything about it.

She was definitely feeling resentful that Sean never laughed at anything she said that hard. She could be funny. Hell, she _was_ funny. The majority of the time. Alison was her friend, one of her best friends, yet Hanna began to wonder why Sean was so invested in her. Sure, she was beautiful and smart and majestic and- Hanna suddenly knew why.

She was everything that Hanna was not. That was the issue.

"Are you going to Noel's cabin party next week?" Hanna asked, sitting next to her boyfriend as she placed his water on the table in front of them both.

Sean nodded. "Of course I am. Noel's my best friend."

Hanna wanted to retort with _"And Alison is mine, meaning that you shouldn't be into her."_ Hanna wondered how he would feel if she started flirting with Noel, but then dismissed that idea when she remembered how despicable she thought it was that Sean was doing it. She loved Sean, she thought, and Hanna did not want to be the girl who did exactly what her boyfriend did just to get back at him. She had to be _sneakier_ about this, not upfront.

Hanna decided to act spontaneously and see where her plan got her. "Right, so we were trying on clothes the other day and Emily was wearing this gorgeous purple dress that really highlighted her boobs. I forgot how big they actually were!"

Sean hummed noncommittally.

Hanna smirked. "Oh, and Alison had on this yellow top which _totally_ complements her figure. I really liked it on her."

Sean lifted his head. "Oh, really? I haven't seen it on her." It was almost an accusation. Hanna decided to implement Phase Two.

Her lips attached themselves onto Sean's neck, getting the spot that he loved and the one that drove him insane when she kissed it. He moaned slightly before shifting in his seat. She ran a hand up his shirt before taking it off completely. She loved the sight of his muscles flexing as he adjusted to being shirtless. She had only seen him without his shirt once before and that was a complete accident. Hanna was surprised that he hadn't stopped her by now. Maybe he _was_ into her. Or at least into sex with her.

"Hanna, stop, stop," Sean urged.

Hanna rolled her eyes where he couldn't see her. There it was.

"What's wrong? Are you cold?"

"No, I don't want to do this." Well, that was blunter than she was used to him being.

"Is this about your dad?"

Sean shook his head 'no'.

Hanna's voice became quieter. "Is this about Alison?"

"Alison?" Sean's voice was higher than usual. Hanna knew him well enough to know that that was his tell for when he was lying.

Hanna was about to reply that he was lying, but her phone stopped her. Being as high on the social pyramid as she was, Hanna knew that every notification on her phone was crucial to answer. Be it a new fashion trend or shopping excursion from Kurt or a friendly joke from Alison (she was actually a really funny girl), it was important that she stay on top of her social reign. The one that the six of them shared.

Looking at the addresser, she saw _Blocked I.D._ and an uneasy feeling rose in her gut.

 _Hefty Hanna is gone but that still doesn't mean that she'll get her guy. Maybe the Ice Queen does win after all… -A_.

Hanna did not quite know what to make of the text. A stinging feeling presented itself behind her eyes and she knew that tears would soon follow it.

"You need to leave, Sean," she commanded emotionlessly.

"Why?"

"My Mom will be back soon and I need to get ready because we're going out to dinner," Hanna lied easily. Sean wasn't the smartest guy, he never usually picked up on when people were lying. Or perhaps he was just too trusting and didn't expect those in his life to need to lie to him. Hanna wouldn't need to if he wouldn't covet her best friend. It was that simple.

After dramatically slamming the door after Sean's exit, Hanna sat on the second step leading up to her room and bit her lip, feeling the silent tears fall from her eyes.

"I'm never good enough," she muttered to herself.

_Part VI- Alison_

Alison loved the mall.

Not so much for shopping because she usually needed Kurt with her to point out the more trending items, but for the opportunity for social dominance.

She was insanely glad that she was on top of the pyramid at school, because she had no idea who she would be if not for her position in the hierarchy.

Alison loved to strut about the mall in her heels, hearing the click of them against the cold floor, all the while watching everybody shoot admiring glances at her as they passed by.

Alison knew that she probably appeared arrogant and selfish to some, but her popularity meant a lot to her because it meant that she had a reason to do things. She craved the attention of her parents so that she didn't get lost in the maelstrom that was her family being successful. Jason had gotten into and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton. Alison was smart but she definitely wasn't Ivy League smart. She knew that she could do well, but maybe Princeton was a little bit too high for her aspirations to be.

So in order for her to become a success within her family, she needed something more. Sometimes, she got Lucas Gottesman to do her homework for her so that her reports cards shone brighter than they usually would, but her patience with him often reached its limit. She would dismiss him rather harshly, but it was the only way that she could get him to stop following her around. He was a nice boy sometimes, but definitely became too obsessed with her, all arrogance aside. It was clear to everyone.

Also, as much as she hated it, she could not actually be friends with Lucas because of her social situation. People with lesser reputations would have to be brushed aside, unfortunately. That was just the way it worked.

Speaking of, Mona Vanderwall approached, a large smile plastered on her face. It was almost as if she expected Alison to actually stop and talk to her like they were even remotely friendly with each other.

"Hey, Alison!" Mona waved brightly as Alison approached.

Alison rolled her eyes. The pretence was almost laughable. "Vanderfreak. Have you finally realised that your entire life needs a serious makeover?"

Mona winced as though physically struck. "No, I just wanted to see if you ever wanted to hang out sometimes."

Alison chuckled. "And why would you think that I would ever want to associate with you in a social setting? You're nothing and I'm everything." Alison hated saying the words but they were necessary. If she didn't have her words, she would fall into the background, leaving her entire life a giant question mark.

Mona nodded timidly, scuttling away past Alison and went somewhere she knew not.

A low chuckle sounded behind Alison. She turned, her slight paranoia kicking in, and sighed. Sean Ackard was forever obsessed, much like Lucas (though any comparison between the two other than that was definitely ridiculous. They were the complete polar opposites of each other) and Alison resented him so much more for it than she did the nerd. Sean was with one of her best friends and yet, still showed an obvious interest in her. Alison had not yet broached the awkward topic with Hanna, but she knew that Hanna knew. They always did.

It wasn't like Alison was even the tiniest bit interested in Sean, she didn't even appreciate his attention. She would constantly tell him to go away and think about Hanna, but he always took that as her playing hard to get.

"Sean, please don't do this again. I know that you're into me, it doesn't take a love guru to figure that much out. Just think about Hanna. Please."

"Ali, Hanna's great. But she's not you," Sean said, leaning into Alison's lips for a kiss. Alison moved her head back quickly and struck Sean across the face, hard. Alison DiLaurentis was nothing if not a grandmaster at slapping. Sean rubbed his cheek and stormed away.

"Don't be a dick, Sean!" Alison called after him to his back.

Hearing her text message tone, she dug her phone out of her clutch and read the ID- _Blocked I.D._ Alison sighed. This was just perfect.

_What's an Ice Queen without her five stone cold followers? If you don't play by my rules, you'll find out... –A_

Alison gulped. This meant that somebody meant business. She always had to present herself as somebody who was not scared of anything, but she was scared of a lot of things. Anonymous texts freaked her out. Her paranoia made it almost impossible to trust people, so she was also afraid of strangers. And this text message combined the two. Also with the subtle threat of death towards one of her five best friends was no laughing matter.

She knew that she had to tell the girls about the texts, so she typed a single line into their iMessage group chat.

_S.O.S_

_Part VII- Coming Together_

The six best friends sat in Alison's living room, looking up at the girl in question who had texted them the signal for danger. Their _S.O.S_ signal was created back when Emily broke her arm and needed somebody to pick her up when her parents were out of town. She had taken inspiration from some movie and texted _S.O.S_ in the group chat and Alison had come by to pick her up and take her straight to the emergency room for her arm.

"What's going on, Ali?" Kurt wondered what was so urgent. He also noticed that Aria wasn't quite meeting his gaze whenever he looked at her.

"Well, I was at the mall earlier and I got a text?"

"From –A?" The other five chorused, complete with a synchronous gasp.

Alison frowned. "You guys too?"

Spencer nodded. "-A knows things. Something that only K—you guys know." Spencer didn't want to reveal that Kurt was the only one who knew her Adderall secret for fear of them thinking that she didn't trust them because she _did_. With her life.

Kurt nodded solemnly, as did Emily. "I have a feeling that whoever is doing this is not playing around. If we are to find out who these texts are from, we need to be on the lookout for anybody who might be listening into your conversation or even reading your class notes over your shoulder. This person is apparently sneaky and knows a _lot_."

"Kurt, you watch _way_ too much _Criminal Minds_ ," Hanna laughed and she elicited a chuckle from the rest.

Alison pursed her lips. "I can't help but think that –A knows more about us than they're letting on. And they're not afraid to make threats."

"What does that mean?" Emily asked.

"My text said this: _What's an Ice Queen without her five stone cold followers? If you don't play by my rules, you'll find out... –A_."

The other five looked shocked that –A had threatened to kill one or more of them as their texts were not as threatening, with maybe the exception of Kurt's.

"Someone is messing with us. This might just be a cruel joke but I think this is more than that. Someone really hates the six of us," Emily supplied.

Hanna shook her head. "What have we done? What have we possibly done as a group that would make someone hate us?"

Spencer bit her lip. "Could this be Jenna? We did… _blind_ her, after all."

Alison shot Spencer a warning glare. "Spencer, we promised never to talk about that night again. It's not Jenna."

"How are you so sure?" Aria asked, speaking for the first time.

"I just am. This doesn't feel like something Jenna would do. Jenna Marshall is nothing if not blunt about her hatred."

Kurt stopped suddenly. "Is Jason in?"

Alison frowned but nodded. "Why?"

Kurt blushed. "Well, we don't exactly want people hearing this, do we?

The others nodded, though Alison continued to frown for a few seconds before leading them into the backyard. Seeing only three chairs out, Alison went to the shed. Kurt, being the gentleman that Ella had raised him to be, offered to get the chairs. Alison offered them to Emily, Hanna and Aria as Kurt opened the shed door.

The large shape that fell at his feet startled him and caused him to shriek rather loudly.

Flies buzzed around his head as Kurt looked properly at the shape on the ground.

It was Jenna Marshall.

Lying motionlessly with her glasses removed and her eyes wide, Kurt almost vomited his lunch in the nearby grass. "Guys!"

The five ran over to him, covering their mouths and noses at the sight and smell.

All at once, as if planned, their phones buzzed together. The vibrations echoed across the garden as Emily pulled out her phone.

"Oh my God."

"It's from –A," Spencer clarified.

"There's one for all of us," Emily supplied.

"No, it's the same one."

Kurt read it aloud. " _It's a good thing you all look fabulous in orange, because you bitches are all going down for her murder. That's a promise I'll keep. I know everything. –A_


	2. Touching The Surface

Jenna Marshall’s funeral was an event that nobody was ever really prepared for.

Alison, Aria, Emily, Hanna, Kurt and Spencer made their way up the aisle to find some seats, not too near the front and not too near the back, while trying to avoid everybody’s eyes. They weren’t guilty of murdering her, by any means, but they were guilty of hating her which made them liable in the eyes of Rosewood’s finest.

Hating her meant that they had a motive. Kurt certainly did. As did Aria. Alison and Emily, too. Even Spencer and Hanna had a reason to have done it.

None of them were particularly causes for murder, but none could be discounted in the eyes of law enforcement.

The phrase goes ‘ _Innocent until proven guilty’._

Well, not in Rosewood it didn’t.

Jenna’s brooding step brother Toby Cavanaugh sauntered over to them. Ah, if looks could kill there would be six dead Liars on the floor of the Church.

“What the hell are you six doing here?”

“Paying our respects,” Kurt began gently, as not to spark any feelings of anger. Well, too late.

“Bullshit. Jenna hated you all and you hated her. She wouldn’t have wanted any of you here! After everything you six did to her, you insist on using her death to gain sympathy as the grieving students who never got the chance to apologise to their main victim. Would you like to know that, because of you, the last thing she saw was the garage door opening. She wanted to see again and you denied her that. You took away her sight and her life! Leave right now or I’ll have you removed.”

Kurt was positively shocked at Toby’s fierce rebuttal. It was uncalled for. He could have understood that Toby would grieving and was not in proper control of his temper right now, but accusing them of murder in a public setting was not the right thing to do.

Alison knew that they should leave. The last thing that they wanted was an angry relative harassing them and accusing them of something that none of them did.

Aria was extremely uncomfortable and just wanted to flee the Church before anyone noticed that they were being accused of Jenna’s murder.

Hanna and Emily were looking at each other uncomfortably and then back at Toby’s raging face. His sorrow was clear in his eyes and neither of them wanted to add fuel to the fire.

“Toby, please,” Alison tried. “We’re not using Jenna for our own gain. We just want to pay our respects. Let us. We don’t mean any harm.”

Toby growled, but loosened up slightly, returning to his step-father’s side and whispering something to him. Emily rather thought that it was unfair to have lies spread around the town about them, but they weren’t in a position to counter it with their version of the truth if nobody would believe them.

One by one, speakers made their way up to say something about Jenna. Emily, Hanna and Aria were crying. Finally, Toby made his way up to the podium. Actually seated at the very back of the Church now, the Six Liars held their breaths. They all knew that there was a very real possibility that something about their history with Jenna could be revealed by her brother during his speech. In a strange moment, Alison remembered Jenna’s little secret. That she had been forcing herself on Toby. It was a sickening piece of gossip but, in Rosewood, every weapon had to be razor sharp or else the battle was going to be against you.

Toby began to speak. “My sister was a wonderful person. People say all the time that they are blessed to have somebody in their lives, but Jenna was one of those people that brightened your day just by walking into the room. She hadn’t been in my life for as long as I would have hoped,” Spencer swore that Toby’s eyes flickered in their direction, “but the time I spent with her will be time I cherish forever. For someone like her to pass away so young and so brutally was heinous and I hope that the person or _people_ that did it find the compassion to come forward. Because the loss of Jenna is a loss that will affect so many people in the worst of ways. I can’t even begin to envision a world without her, but I know that I will have to try. Because she would have wanted me to carry on. And I will. Because her life will still live on. In my heart and hopefully in all of yours, too. I love you, Jenna and I’ll miss you every day.”

The silence that lingered over the mourners was only disrupted by sniffling and sobbing. Toby returned to his seat with a last look at the six slightly guilty faces at the back of the Church. Emily was tearfully biting her lip. Alison looked across and put an arm around her, pulling Emily’s head onto her shoulder and stroking her hair.

“I hope you all heard what I said up there. I don’t know which one of you it was or whether it was more than one of you. What I do know for sure is that one of you is responsible for this. I know that you did this and I’m going to prove it. If it’s the last thing I ever do, I’ll make you pay for what you did to her.”

As they left the Church, they all looked down at their phones in unison, hearing their various tones sound through the speakers.

It was a group text.

_What a lovely service. It’s a shame that guilt can be more powerful than sorrow sometimes. One of you knows more than you’re letting on. Have fun at the wake! –A xoxo_

“Is this Toby?” Hanna whispered bravely. The other five thought about it briefly.

“No,” Spencer decided. “Think about it. I mean, why would Toby text us _before_ her death? I understand now, but not then. He had no real motive.”

Emily frowned. “We _did_ blind her.” She turned to Aria and Kurt. “I mean, say someone blew up a garage with Mike in and it blinded him. Wouldn’t you hate the person who did it?”

Kurt nodded and Aria narrowed her eyes. They were both fiercely protective of their little brother. Emily cowered under their dual glare.

“Okay, bad example, but you see my point.”

Spencer, Alison and Hanna nodded whilst Kurt and Aria traded strange glances with one another. The others frowned at their exchange but shrugged it off, having more pressing matters to deal with at the present moment.

As they walked through the town, the six found themselves on the receiving end of increasingly strange looks from people who did not attend the funeral, including a very familiar enemy and somebody who had the potential to cause a lot of trouble for them.

“Well, if it isn’t the six most hated people in Pennsylvania! Alison, Aria, Emily Hanna, Kurt and Spencer! How does it feel to be accused of murder? Because it’s like music to my ears!”

Kurt narrowed his eyes. “Hello, _Noel_.”

There was a lot of bad blood between Kurt and Noel. Kurt had crushed _hard_ on the other boy prior to the latter’s relationship with Jenna and it was the worst kept secret in Rosewood. Noel had found out and had humiliated the other boy by shamelessly flirting with Kurt, obviously with no intent to follow through on such advances. Kurt had been trying to stay strong despite the cruel manipulation of his feelings, but only his close friends could see through his guise. Kurt had confronted Noel in one almighty showdown during which Noel had been up in Kurt’s face, ready to throw a punch. Alison had been there to defuse the situation after Kurt delivered a fluid storm of invectives and masterful insults to Noel’s character. Jenna had been there, cheering for her boyfriend on the side lines whilst laughing merrily at Kurt’s emotional pain. She had even urged Noel to hit the smaller boy. Without Alison’s rough slap to Noel’s face, he probably would have done it. Ever since then, Kurt and Noel traded barbs in the school hallways and Noel (and subsequently Sean) became Kurt’s biggest bullies. Sean had stopped abruptly when he started to date Hanna, but Kurt had still not forgiven him for his actions.

“Montgomery. You know, I’m surprised that _you_ of all people had the audacity to show your face at her funeral.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Noel laughed darkly. “Don’t act all stupid, now. Everyone knows that you hated her for so many reasons that nobody understood. Now that you killed her, it won’t be long until the police arrest you. You were always saying how she should leave Rosewood, and now she’s gone forever! Are you _happy_ now?!” Noel started towards Kurt angrily but, before Spencer could intervene, a pair of hands grabbed Noel’s jacket roughly, pulling him away.

“Don’t _touch_ him,” The familiar voice growled aggressively. Noel shrugged the man off before sauntering away, done with the situation, apparently.

“Are you okay, Kurt?” The dazzling smile of Jason DiLaurentis was enough to sooth even the direst of worries.

“I am now, thank you,” Kurt smiled back. “He’s just upset. His girlfriend just died.”

Jason frowned. “So that excuses his behaviour before Jenna’s body was found? Ali and I do talk occasionally, Kurt.”

Kurt blushed slightly, but recomposed himself. “Well, I suppose not. But I can excuse his behaviour now. I’m still angry with him for everything, but I’ve decided to cut him some slack for the time being. That might make me completely stupid, but at least I’m stupid and compassionate.”

“That’s true. Listen, girls, could I borrow Kurt for a private moment alone please? I’ll return him to you shortly.”

They all nodded, Alison smirking at the pair of them before Jason whisked Kurt over to a private corner. Kurt saw the five girls whispering amongst themselves, Aria still not meeting his eye. He briefly wondered what that was about before Jason was speaking to him.

He took a quick moment to observe Jason, looking into his emerald green eyes and finding himself getting a little lost inside them, his mind full of what-ifs and could-be’s. He'd always been attracted to Alison's cute older brother, Jason, but he assumed it was like all hopeless crushes: fleeting and insignificant. The fact that it had never really gone away, even when his feelings for Noel were fresh, told Kurt otherwise.

“How are you holding up? I know it can’t be easy, what with most of the town pointing the finger at you.”

Kurt chuckled lightly but shook his head quickly. “I know that I didn’t do it. There won’t be any evidence incriminating me, so I think I’m safe.” Kurt couldn’t really tell for sure. Perhaps this mysterious –A person had planted some false evidence that made Kurt look guilty as hell. Or maybe Toby had done it on Jenna’s behalf as her final act of revenge. Whimsical thoughts of Jenna faking her death just to send Kurt to jail passed through his mind but left just as quickly.

“I know what you mean. Her body was in my backyard; people have been whispering about me. It’s just white noise, Kurt. Block it out.”

Kurt sighed. "It's going to be hard convincing people that we had nothing to do with it when they've already made up their minds."

Jason agreed sadly. “In a small town like Rosewood, the first suspect is always the one that most time is spent on. Unfortunately, that’s you. I believe, though. I know that none of you would ever do anything like that. I don't know how anybody can think that you would. Jenna Marshall had a lot of enemies."

Kurt frowned at his pointed declarative but decided to let it go. He instead chose to focus on Jason’s funeral attire and how beautiful he looked in it. Realising that Jason was, again, speaking, Kurt managed to refocus his attention on his lips.

“I also wondered if you wanted to hang out sometime. You know, without our sisters or the others around?” Jason shuffled noticeably and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Kurt smirked. _Was Jason nervous? Was he also asking Kurt out on a date?_

“Jason DiLaurentis, is this your timid way of asking me on a date?” Kurt hoped he hadn’t jumped the gun, here. If he had, he could just have passed it off as a joke, but Jason’s short nod made fireworks explode within Kurt and he had a fast-beating heart to prove it.

“I would love to. I’m always around. If you want to steal me away again, it’ll probably be on the front page and have you as my accomplice.”

“As long as I’m with you, I’ll do my time,” Jason quipped kind of romantically. From the way that Kurt’s heart was dropping into his stomach and doing somersaults, it was definitely romantic.

“I’ll see you later, Jason.”

“Bye, Kurt.”

Kurt strutted back to his girls, using his poker face skills to not betray his feelings towards what had just transpired between himself and Alison’s older brother.

Alison smiled at him. “Are you screwing my brother?”

Kurt almost choked as a furious blush rose to his cheeks at Alison’s blunt, yet sadly incorrect, statement. “No, Alison, I’m not hooking up with Jason.” _Not yet, anyway._ “He just wanted to let me know that I have his support if anything comes of these stupid accusations. Thanks, -A!” Kurt shouted into the sky, his voice echoing slightly. Emily shushed him, thinking that somebody might hear and they walked along the street. Alison, Emily and Aria were in front while Kurt, Spencer and Hanna remained at the rear. Spencer turned to Hanna curiously.

“So, how are you and Sean?”

Hanna wanted to light herself on fire just at the thought of answering the question. She hated lying to her friends, but she wanted to reassure Alison, in a friendly way, that she had not messed anything up by being the object of Sean’s affections whilst he still had a girlfriend. Hanna expected him to break up with her any day now, but Spencer’s question had only reaffirmed her suspicions.

“Oh, we’re great! Just great!” Emily sensed some tension in the relationship, but said nothing. Instead, she focused on not fainting at the smell of Alison’s perfume or at the way the blonde girl looked at her. She knew that her love for Alison as growing day by day with no way to stop it or to harness her feelings and act on them. That would not have ended well for her, Emily was sure.

Spencer smiled at Hanna before addressing the group as a whole. “Should we head to my place? I’ll fix us a late lunch,” Spencer suggested and Aria’s stomach growled at the thought of actual food. She was still wrestling with her doubts against Kurt, so she needed to distract herself and invest her energy on something else besides the suspicious behaviour and secrets of her twin brother.

Like pasta.

The six settled around Spencer’s kitchen island, eating the pasta salad that Spencer had whipped up for them, at Aria’s vehement request, and discussing the morning’s events.

“So Noel thinks that I killed Jenna, Toby probably does too and apparently the cops are adamant that I’m at fault,” Kurt supplied morbid conversation as they ate.

Spencer shrugs. “At least with –A in the mix, you’re not alone in the crosshairs.”

Kurt smiles shakily. “Thanks, Spence. You truly know exactly what to say.”

Hanna frowned. “But I don’t understand something. People think it’s Kurt, but how is –A going to pin it on one of us let alone all of us if none of us did it? There will not be any evidence and we’ll have alibis, right?”

They all nodded communally and Alison paused.

“Okay, I know this sounds really weird, but can we take a second? Did anybody here kill Jenna Marshall? If you did, you can tell the rest of us. The secret will go the grave.”

A silence buzzed around the Hasting’s kitchen, each one of the six looking at the stoic faces of the others with a nod.

Emily bit her lip, a trademark Emily Fields nervous expression. “Did you really think that one of us did it?”

Alison shook her head. “No, but we have to be sure. If we’re all being targeted by –A and possibly the cops, we can’t have any secrets.”

Aria looked pointedly at Kurt who frowned at her gaze.

“Okay, what is going on with you two? You’ve been shooting each other sly glances like that all day. No secrets,” Hanna confronted the twins’ shifty behaviour.

Aria was about to answer (probably admonishing Kurt’s necessary secrecy towards her) when Kurt’s phone rang. It wasn’t a text, but a phone call.

“Is that from –A?” Hanna asked rashly.

Spencer stared. “If –A calls us, they lose their anonymity. That would defeat the whole point of their torture.”

Kurt pulled out his phone and saw ‘Byron Montgomery’ on her Caller ID. He looked to Aria. “It’s Byron,” he muttered softly, not entirely sure whether they were on speaking terms.

“Hi, Byron.” Sometimes, Kurt felt awkward not using ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ like regular families but sometimes he blessed the independence and sophistication that the forenames brought to their families.

_“Kurt, I’m going to be working late to cover some of Meredith's grading and class schedules over the foreseeable future. I just wanted to let you know.”_

Kurt scoffed. “Why can’t she do it herself?” He definitely sounded believable. Of course he knew why she couldn’t do it herself. She was probably injured. He didn’t feel good about that fact, but he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of his happy family.

_“I know you don't like Meredith, but she's in the hospital. She fell down a flight of stairs at Hollis two days ago and she was injured quite badly."_

Kurt feigned surprise and quite well at that. He was nothing if not a good actor. His and Spencer’s take on _Romeo and Juliet_ was a Rosewood High classic. “Is she going to be okay?”

_“Yes, she’ll be fine but she needs lots of recovery time, apparently.”_

“Okay, I’ll let Aria know, bye Byron.” Kurt hung up and turned to his sister. “Byron is going to working late for the next few weeks. One of the TA’s fell down some stairs at Hollis so he’s covering for her until she gets back to the college.” Aria nodded.

“I wonder if she’s okay,” Aria muttered.

“Who cares?” Alison snapped to her. Every eye was fixed on the blonde for a few awkward seconds.

“Did you guys hear that we’re getting a new English teacher this year? Apparently, he’s really hot,” Emily commented to everyone’s surprise. A few awkward glances at shoes meant that nobody saw the silent disappointment cross Alison DiLaurentis’ face.

Kurt’s phone rang once more and he answered straight away, seeing ‘Ella Montgomery’ on the screen. “Hey Ella, I know Byron’s working late, he just called to—.”

“Kurt, it’s not about your father. The police are here and they want to talk to you here. They have some questions about Jenna Marshall’s murder. It’s just routine, they’re interviewing everybody who knew her, apparently,” Ella replied with senses of urgency and boredom in her voice at the same time.

Kurt paled and looked worriedly at the group. “I’m on my way. Bye.”

“What?” Hanna asked.

“The police are at our house. They want to talk to me about Jenna.”

Emily frowned. “Are they going to question all of us after you?”

Kurt shrugged. “Possibly. Ella said that they’re interviewing everybody who knew her, though they may just have been sardonicism. I have to go. Can someone drive Aria home later on?”

Hanna nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Thanks.”

Back at the Montgomery household, Kurt entered the living room in a state of panic. He never wanted to get entangled in a murder mystery. He was way too young and budding for that. In his front room was a face that he wished he would never see again.

“Hello, Kurt. Long time, no see,” The man smirked.

Kurt thought back to the last time he had heard that voice.

_Kurt watched as the man hit back yet another shot. He was originally looking for Noel so that maybe he could just have a simple conversation with his crush, but the host was nowhere to be seen. Instead he was stood at the kitchen counter with a smirking senior boy. Kurt couldn’t deny that he was attractive, but Kurt wasn’t interested. And neither was he…apparently straight boys could get a little gay with alcohol down their throats._

_“So you’re gay?” Darren Wilden shouted above the music. Kurt nodded timidly. He was only a sophomore and he didn’t expect to end up talking to senior boys during a party. He had only had one glass of double vodka and Coke and he felt fine._

_“Have you ever kissed a boy?”_

_Kurt wasn’t sure if his fourth-grade peck on the lips with Andrew Campbell actually counted or not. He didn’t think so, so he shook his head._

_“Have you ever seen another guy naked?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Kurt didn’t really know what to make of that. He shook his head._

_“Follow me,” Wilden grabbed his wrist and led him to an abandoned bathroom. Before Kurt could even say anything, Wilden had unzipped his pants and was slowly pumping his rapidly hardening cock. Kurt was pushed down the floor by Wilden’s strong hands._

_“I-I don’t think I want to do this,” Kurt stuttered. His heart was racing but he didn’t think he could escape from the bathroom without Wilden creating a barrier and he would rather do without the struggle._

_“Relax, it’ll be nice.”_

_“No, I really think that I should leave,” Kurt raised his voice a little._

_“You’re not leaving,” Wilden stated lowly and Kurt knew that it was not an option._

Now that Kurt looked back on that memory, he remembered something that he had missed from that night due to his alcohol consumption. It was only a flash of a memory, but he had seen the photo booth from the previous year being put to use with Emily Fields and Alison DiLaurentis kissing in there once he had pulled back the curtain. He wasn’t sure what their situation was, but he didn’t want to pry.

Wilden took a seat on the armchair and offered Kurt a seat in his own house. _How dare he?_ Well, Kurt knew that Wilden didn’t really have many moral objections from his past experience.

“So Kurt,” he began smugly. “Where were you the night Jenna Marshall was killed?”


	3. Lie To Me

As Kurt explained his whereabouts the night Jenna was killed, Wilden looked increasingly suspicious of him. Kurt figured that Noel had really laid it on thick when describing Kurt’s supposed involvement in the murder. _What a dick._

“So, how would you describe your relationship with Jenna?” Wilden asked smarmily. He was trying to catch Kurt out, to give him a motive.

“Well, we weren’t really that close.”

“A source tells me that Jenna was the person who outed you to the entire time, something you had never forgiven her for. Is this true?”

It was true. Jenna had, in a random act of hatred, revealed Kurt’s sexuality to the entire town. First the school and then the patrons of the Rear Window Brew and the Apple Rose Grille. Two of Rosewood’s hotspots. The spread of that particular piece of gossip was inevitably once Kurt actually acknowledged it. Kurt had been _furious_ at her, as had Aria. He had shouted at her, giving her a piece of his mind in school, in a rant that had taken the town by storm and would easily go down as one of its best…

_“Jenna.”_

_“Oh hey, Kurt,” Jenna replied falsely. “How’s life outside of the closet? It was about time that you told everyone.” Her smirk only made Kurt more angry. He had asked his friends to wait down the hall so that Jenna didn’t feel ganged up on._

_“Oh, cut the crap Jenna. We all know that you started spreading it around school. I wouldn’t have told anyone. I wasn’t ready.”_

_“Let’s just say that I gave you the push that was necessary,” Jenna said, raising her eyebrows momentarily._

_“Necessary? Every person in the world who is gay has the right to choose when they come out. A person’s sexuality is something that is shared when they are ready.”_

_Jenna opened her mouth to speak, but Kurt put up a hand._

_“I’m not done here. What gives_ you _the right to decide when I come out? Nothing. I am the only one who should have decided that. I don’t know what makes you so fucking special to think that you have the authority to tell people, but I can assure that you’re probably the most ridiculously cruel person at this school. You’ve fucked up everything.”_

_“Did you have a parade planned?”_

_“No, I didn’t have a fucking parade. The moment I throw a parade will be the moment that you leave Rosewood forever without looking back. This town is so much better off without your bitchy little grin and fake attitude. Underneath your mask, Jenna, you’re just a scared little girl. You know that your true self will never quite amount to anything, so you hide. You run away from who you are become somebody that you're not. And guess what? Everybody hates your façade. Nobody says it because they’re too polite, but we all know that you want to be the Queen around here. Well, it’s not quite working. It might be because you’re the most selfish, nastiest, jumped up, skanky little shit in this entire town! Go fuck yourself, Jenna. The moment you realise that you’ve alienated everybody will be much too late. You’ll have nobody there and, on the day, I’m going to laugh and watch you crumble into the pathetic nobody that you’ve always been destined to be. So next time you decide to interfere in matters that are absolutely none of your business, you think twice about it. Because, I swear to whatever the fuck is out there, if you meddle or spread a piece of gossip, I will not hesitate to end you. Have a nice day.”_

_And with that, Kurt walked back to his friends, leaving Jenna to watch after him bitterly with nothing but revenge swirling through her mind._

Kurt blinked several times as Wilden waited for his answer. He knew that he had left it too long and that he probably looked suspicious as hell right now, but he needed that trip down memory lane to accurately establish his relationship with Jenna. Sighing, he answered the question.

“Realistically, you’ll believe what you want to no matter what I say. But it’s true. Jenna did out me to the town. I had resented her for it and did not hesitate to tell her as much. Who wouldn’t resent somebody who had invaded their privacy and shared secrets that weren’t theirs to share? It’s a human emotion. It doesn’t mean that I killed her.”

Wilden looked through his notes once again before humming. “That situation aside, would you say that you liked Jenna as a person? Did you find redeeming qualities within her character?”

Kurt thought about it. “Honestly, I was indifferent. I appreciated her strength to come back as strongly as she did after her accident, it was almost inspiring. But obviously there were things I did not appreciate as much. Mostly, I felt sorry for her. I didn’t really know how to connect with her. She made it very clear that she hated me without a motive.”

“Interesting word choice there, Kurt,” Wilden said, narrowing his eyes.

“I highly doubt that my language decisions are incriminating in the case, Detective. Are you, perhaps, insinuating things there are merely found in the inadvertent pragmatics of my statement?”

“I’m just doing my job.”

Kurt looked around, seeing that Ella was not present and leaned in, whispering, “Maybe you’re so _good_ at it because you’re used to forcing people into things that they don’t want to do, aren’t you, Darren?”

“It’s Detective Wilden to you.”

“Did our sordid affair in the bathroom mean that little to you? That a first name basis is truly outlandish in this case? I quite remember you using my forename in a breathy moan the last time I saw you. What would your superiors think about that? You orally raping a minor? Because I don’t think that they would be too pleased to hear about it, do you?”

“Are you blackmailing me, Montgomery?”

Kurt shrugged. “You’re the cop. You figure it out. Anyway, you won’t find anything that incriminates me so this investigation was always going to be fruitless. You tell Kahn that he’s out of line.”

Wilden frowned but stood up. “Why did you kill Jenna Marshall?”

Ella stormed out of their kitchen, jaw clenched. “That’s enough, Detective! Your accusatory tone has no place in this questioning, which was apparently ‘routine’. Interrogatives such as that are usually called for when a suspect is…well, a suspect. My son is not a suspect. If you would like to continue questioning, Kurt will be at the station for a formal interrogation. Not in my house. I do advise you to find some evidence first. Goodbye.”

“This interrogation is far from over, Kurt,” Wilden said firmly.

Ella showed Wilden the door and slammed it in his face.

Kurt turned to her, a grateful smile on his face. “Thanks, Ella. That was getting a little out of hand.”

“You know that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Kurt.”

“I didn’t kill her, Mom. I swear it.”

“Oh, Kurt, I know you didn't. I don't know why he wanted to question you in the first place.”

Kurt bit his lip. “Maybe it’s just procedure. Maybe he was pointed in my direction by somebody, I honestly don’t know either.”

Mike suddenly trampled down the stairs and Kurt had not realised that he was home. “What did that cop want with Kurt?”

Kurt shrugged. “Just asking questions about Jenna. I thought you were out with Connor today. I was going to come and pick you up from his house?”

Mike shook his head. “He’s being a jerk. He said some stuff about you that I didn’t like.” Mike came fully down the stairs and into the kitchen with Kurt and Ella. “I told him where he could go with comments like that.”

Kurt was truly touched. That his brother would cut off communication with his friends simply because they verbally abused Kurt was something Kurt would forever be grateful for. Of course, he would do the same thing it the situation was reversed. “Thank you, Mike. But you don’t have to avoid Connor. He has an opinion. It’s valid. I appreciate you defending me, though.”

Mike pulled him into a brief hug before Kurt noticed his bare wrist.

“Hey, have you either of you seen the bracelet I have with my name on it that Alison got for me? I had it on a couple of days ago and I never noticed that it was gone until now.”

Ella shook her head along with Mike. “Maybe you dropped it somewhere.”

“I hope not. We all wear them all the time. I’ll ask the girls if they’ve seen them.”

As Kurt went upstairs to open his laptop, Ella appraised Mike with a wide smile.

“I’m proud of you, Mike. You stuck up for your brother and I know that Kurt will never forget what you did for him.”

“Thanks, Mom. But I only did the right thing. Kurt has protected me a lot of times, and so has Aria. It’s only fair that I do the same for them.”

Ella smiled at her son’s retreating figure and Mike smiled, too, thinking of the good deed he had done.

Kurt checked his Facebook profile. A few notifications popped up. One was a post on his wall.

_Luke Milton > Kurt Montgomery: Murderer._

Another one was a Candy Crush Saga request. Kurt promptly shut that down before combing through his inbox, where several new messages had been sent.

One made his heart sing.

_Jason DiLaurentis: Hey, I wondered if I had could have your number so you can call me if you need me? x_

Kurt stared at the ‘x’ for _way_ too long before replying.

_Kurt Montgomery: Yeah, of course. Thank you._

He quickly added his number afterwards before checking the next message.

_Noel Kahn: I need to talk to you._

Kurt frowned. Why would Noel Kahn need or even want to talk him? He had been pretty adamant that the converse was more likely in the square earlier that day. Kurt hesitantly typed back.

_Kurt Montgomery: And what would this be about?_

Satisfied that he was icy enough, Kurt checked the final message.

To his relief, it wasn’t from –A. It was a post in the group chat with Kurt and his five friends in it. He knew that one post would turn into hundreds, possibly even thousands if they were active enough.

_Emily: What did the cops ask you? x_

_Kurt: Just some stuff about my connection to Jenna. Apparently other people Wilden was talking to pointed the finger. X_

That was true enough. He didn’t want to go into how much Wilden wanted to arrest him for the murder.

_Spencer: Do you know who? x_

_Kurt: No idea. I wouldn't put it past Noel, though, after the way he confronted us. x_

Maybe Noel simply wanted to accuse him some more. It would make sense, after all.

_Spencer: It would make sense for Wilden to talk to him first, being her boyfriend. x_

_Aria: What does Noel have against us, though, really? X_

Kurt wanted to explain, but did not want to rehash everything that had happened between himself or Noel or about the way that Alison had commandeered his breakup with Prudence Finn. Because, really, Prudence was an awful person and Noel should have done that himself.

_Alison: He might know about The Jenna Thing? x_

_Hanna: Nobody knows about The Jenna Thing besides us and Toby. Well, and Jenna. But she's not talking anytime soon... x_

_Spencer: Hanna..._

_Kurt: If Wilden stops by your houses, just let us know. x_

_MyNameIsA: I assume Detective Wilden has a lot of information to gain from talking to the six of you. Or maybe I'll tell him... xoxo -A_

_Alison: What the fuck?_

_Aria: Who is this monster?_

_Spencer: I tried tracing the IP address but it comes up with nothing. This bitch really knows their way around a computer._

_MyNameIsA: You're going to have to do better than that, bitches. Sleep tight. Mwah. -A_

_Emily: Seriously, this isn't safe!! We need to tell somebody._

_MyNameIsA: Great idea, Em! But unless you're ready for all of your secrets to come crashing down around you, I'd think twice about that. -A_

_MyNameIsA has left the conversation._

Kurt was chilled to the bone. The fact that –A could just waltz into their group conversation without an identity being traced was shocking but also more terrifying for them. Kurt wondered if he had any privacy anymore. Even in his thoughts. A George Orwell type situation flashed into his brain before he realised how ridiculous his thoughts must have sounded if he were to speak them aloud.

He would really have to consider therapy for this whole ordeal.

The new school year began with the summer drama rolling over into the fall, Jenna’s funeral and murder case still being the hot topic of the town. The six friends had all walked in together, ready to stand united against any opposition that they would face. And they predicted a lot of it.

Looking around the hallways, they noticed many changes in the way things were working. Most notably was the transformation of Mona Vanderwaal and her association with some of the more popular girls in their junior class. Alison rolled her eyes as the confrontation she had predicted was approaching quickly. Aria, Emily, Hanna, Kurt and Spencer all stood by, ready to lend Alison a hand if needed. They fought together but, sometimes, individual battles needed to be had. Such as Kurt and Jenna and Alison and Mona.

“Hello, Alison,” Mona nodded, her fresh look giving her some new confidence. Alison smiled sweetly.

“Hey, Mona. I am loving your new look. You made some necessary changes.”

“I’m glad you approve.”

“Though I’m wondering if you made a change to your toxic personality. Now _that_ was definitely necessary. You can change your hair and your clothes, but your soul is always going to be unlikable.”

Emily winced at Alison’s harsh words but brushed them off, rendering them ultimately necessary.

She knew that Alison struggled with self-identity and that her school persona was different to how she was with her friends. Emily also knew that Alison needed her Ice Queen character to get through high school. Everybody had a _thing_. Spencer had academia. Kurt had drama. Aria had art. Emily had athletics. Hanna had her fashion. Alison believed herself to be ordinary and without a niche within the school, so her reign as the most popular girl in school was her thing. She was, quite simply, the Queen. But only because of the chilled Ice that surrounded her whenever she was forced to rule. Around the sanctuary of her social group, though, she was kind and sweet, though with lashes of brutal honesty and sometimes unnecessary comments spiking through her façade.

But Emily still loved her just as much. And she knew that she always would.

“Oh, Alison,” Mona tutted. “You have no idea how things are changing around here. Now that you’re a potential suspect of a murder, people are not following you how they used to.”

Alison smirked. “Are you so sure?”

Mona nodded.

Alison gestured for the other five to stay put, and they obliged not wanting to mess up her performance. Because that was all it really was to them. And none of them blamed her for it. Alison walked down the hallway and snapped her fingers. All eyes were on her and nobody was paying attention to Mona’s new look anymore. The Queen had demanded the attention of her sycophants. And all was restored.

“You can stop staring now,” Alison snapped and everybody avoided her eye contact, nobody even so much as sneaking a glance. She instilled fear into them and that was the way that it needed to be.

Alison returned to Mona with a raised eyebrow. “Do you think foolishly think that you’ve dethroned me? Everybody wants to be my friend. If I asked somebody else to join our group, girls would fight for the chance.”

“Maybe so,” Mona said, obviously defeated. Scowling, she left. Hanna did not particularly like the ‘new’ Mona. She had sat next to the girl in a Math class once and had actually liked her. She had not even dared to tell Alison. As close as she was to the other blonde, she was still scared of her. Hanna had not long lost the weight, so she was still adjusting to being skinny. Alison knew that she could reveal her secret bulimia with a flick of her wrist. Sometimes, she would not put it past her to do so.

The six perused their timetables.

Discussing, they noticed that they all had English with Mr. Fitz.

“Is he the hot one you mentioned, Em?” Spencer’s eyes lighted, suddenly intrigued.

Emily nodded, not meeting anybody’s eyes.

Hanna frowned. She wondered if Emily’s sexuality was brought up, it would make her feel more open about it with her friends. They were the only five that knew, of course. “If you can appreciate him, Em, I’m sure he’s smoking.”

Emily laughed slightly and Hanna was glad that she didn’t take the comment the wrong way. “Maybe I’m not as gay as I thought.”

Kurt smirked. “I think that about myself every single day,” he mused sarcastically as he linked arms with Emily and Alison as they walked towards their first class of the day with turned out to be English, surprisingly enough.

Seeing that Mr. Fitz was not there yet, Alison took the opportunity to claim the back corner for them. The furthest six seats away from the teacher’s desk were Alison’s ideal spots. This time, she decided to go for the back two rows in the middle. There was five seats in every row and the middle three were theirs. Alison, Kurt and Emily sat on the back row. Kurt slyly let Emily and Alison sit together (a fact with Emily silently appreciated very much but wondered if Kurt knew about her crush) while Aria, Hanna and Spencer took the row in front.

Spencer grinned. “I heard that we’re studying lots of amazing classics this year! _The Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mockingbird,_ and even _Madame Bovary!”_

Kurt nodded appreciatively while Hanna groaned.

“Madame who? Can’t we just read _Vogue_?”

Emily giggled while Spencer slapped her own forehead.

“Hanna, as illuminating as _Vogue_ is as a piece of literature, I’m sure that everybody would struggle to write a detailed essay on the merits of _Vogue_ as a novel.”

Hanna frowned. “That is so rude. _Vogue_ is a classic.”

Aria shook her head fondly. “I’m sure you’ll appreciate the glitz and glamour of _Gatsby_ , Han.”

Emily went to say something when a muttered groan from the front of the classroom interrupted their conversation.

“Holy crap.”

As soon as Aria looked up, her eyes widened. She knew how probably obvious she looked but she couldn’t help it.

It was Ezra.

Ezra Fitz. Why did that have to fit so well? She was _so_ going to be on the news for this.

How could _her_ Ezra, the one that she had been texting since they met, be her new English teacher? Surely it wasn’t true. Well, _Mr. Fitz_ was underlined on the chalkboard, but that didn’t necessarily mean that…

“I’m Mr. Fitz. Your new English teacher.”

Aria’s phone indicated a new text. Rolling her eyes, she pulled it out, checking the sender.

_Student-teacher relationships can be tricky, Aria. Watch out, or Ezra ends up in handcuffs. -A._

Aria put a hand over her mouth.

The other five had noticed something, but didn’t pry as the lesson was starting and they didn’t want to make a scene, especially if Aria was uncomfortable with something.

“So, this year, we’re going to be starting things off with Harper Lee’s fantastic classic, _To Kill A Mockingbird_. It explores several relevant themes such as youth, racism, innocence and appearances. I’ll hand out the copies. If you already have it and would rather bring your own to write any notes in, feel free to do so.

“The title of the book stems from a quote from Miss Maudie, one of the book’s characters. She says _“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but_ _but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mocking bird."_ This is often interpreted as a symbolic reference to innocence within the novel. I want you to take a sheet of paper and write down what innocence means to you. Three minutes and I’ll look for some responses.”

Everyone immediately set to work on their task, some shooting glances as the six murder suspects in the middle of the room, probably intrigued at what they had to say.

After three minutes exactly, Ezra held up a hand. “Okay, time’s up. Now let’s have some responses. Remember, these are all opinions. Everyone right, within reason. When I call on you, could you tell me your name so I can commit them to memory. Thanks, uh, let’s see…you in the back in the middle.”

It was Kurt.

Somehow, everybody was interested in what his view of innocence actually was.

“Kurt Montgomery, sir. To me, innocence isn’t something that is determined by age or any other factor. I am not speaking in the legal sense here, but I believe that innocence depends on a certain element of not being privy to the true horrors of the world.”

Ezra smiled, intrigued by Kurt’s answer. He waved his hand. “Elaborate please, Mr. Montgomery.”

“If I were to relate it to the legal definition, being free from guilt and without liability, it would mean that innocence is determined by action or lack thereof. You can do things but still be innocent. If you don’t truly understand what you are doing and the potential repercussions, you can still be innocent. If I were to extrapolate William Blake’s attitude towards the concept, I would be talking about children and the lack of exposure to Experience.”

“Summarise,” Ezra challenged, getting the feeling that Kurt Montgomery had rarely been challenged academically.

Kurt smirked because Mr. Fitz just _got it_. “Innocence is a lack of knowledge regarding aftereffects of actions combined with a naivety towards reality and aspects of life that are new to us.”

Ezra nodded, perfectly happy with the answer. He knew that Kurt would be one to watch out for in the class. He had obviously heard the rumours about the boy and Jenna Marshall’s murder, but he dismissed them as soon as he heard the boy speak. Those words did not correlate with his supposed dark side. “A lovely answer, Kurt with an impressive mention of other literary figures who wrote about the subject. Now, somebody else. Uh, how about the girl who is looking at her phone?”

Mona Vanderwaal looked up, recognising Mr. Fitz addressing her. “Sorry, what?”

A few people laughed.

Ezra just stared at her. “I would like to hear what your views on innocence are.”

Mona pursed her lips. “Well, if you’re innocent, you haven’t done something that people think you have. So isn’t that, like, all about like not having a social life? Like being a virgin?”

A few more people laughed at her, but Alison’s condescending smirk shut them up.

“I doubt that Harper Lee wanted connotations of virginity to come through in her novel, but the theme itself is timeless. In a twenty first century view, that could be a way of thinking about it, yes. Who’s next?”

Kurt wondered if Mr. Fitz was some kind of educational saint. He was clearly bailing Mona out by making her not look completely stupid in front of her peers. He had pushed his own answer to go further, apparently genuinely interested in his answer. He had never had a teacher like that before. Plus, he was _beautiful_. Thoughts of Jason spun around in his head before he heard Alison speak.

“I think that a lot of Harper Lee’s allusions to innocence are concerned with the youthfulness of the protagonists, but also how they believe the best in everybody, even those who aren’t as pure as they seem.”

Ezra nodded. “Very astutely put, Alison. You’ve clearly already read the novel more than once.”

“Three times,” Alison replied, smiling.

Kurt did not miss Emily’s adoring gaze as Alison spoke.

Ezra took a few more opinions but asked that everyone handed their pieces of paper to him before the end of the class so that he could get a better opinion of their thinking processes. He began to introduce the characters and a little bit about their stories when the bell rang. “Okay, please read the first three chapters. If you’ve already read it, please read it again. You might pick up something new. Okay, I’ll see you all on Wednesday. Oh, uh, Miss Montgomery, could I please speak with you for a quick moment.”

Aria blushed but turned to her friends. “I’ll see you guys at lunch.”

Spencer whispered a quick, “I wonder what he wants,” to her friends before they vacated the classroom with everybody else.

Aria approached the desk hesitantly at Ezra went to close the door as the last student had not.

“Ezra, I—.”

“You said that you were a college graduate.”

Aria bit the inside of her cheek. “No, I said that I was thinking about majoring in English. Which I am. I didn’t lie.”

“Instead, you just failed the mention that you were underage. You knew how old I was and you still continued.”

“Does this really change anything?” Aria asked. She knew that it did, but did he?

“Of course it does, this changes everything. Well, nearly everything. I’m your _teacher_ , Aria. I think you’re amazing, I really do. If circumstances were different, I—.”

“You said nearly everything. What hasn’t changed?”

“The fact that I really like you. I’ve barely thought about anything else since you left the bar.”

“This can still work. I know that the odds and the law are against us, but I really like you, too. Should we really let this stop us?”

Ezra thought about it before blinking. “It’s definitely not right, but I don’t want to stop seeing you. I want to experience what it feels like to kiss you again.”

“Kiss me,” Aria breathed and Ezra leaned into her, kissing her rather chastely.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Aria. We can’t risk this on school grounds. Outside of the school, I’m all yours. I’ll give you my address in the next class. Aria, it is imperative that you understand that you cannot tell anybody about this. Not even your brother. I assumed that by the name, Kurt was your brother?”

Aria nodded. She was still on rocky ground with her brother.

“Nobody can know. I’ll see you around, Aria.”

“Bye, Ezra.”

As soon as Aria got home, after thinking extensively about her situation with Kurt all day, she knew that she was too close to her brother to let their indifference continue. She needed to make things right and he needed to tell his secret or else she would continue to argue with him. Twins didn’t keep secrets. Well, they did if they were seeing their teacher socially and kissing him, but that was completely different. Unless Kurt was seeing a teacher, there was nothing that he should have been hiding from her.

_Even if you can avoid me, your problems begin at home. –A_

Aria grunted and frowned, walking into Kurt and Mike’s bedroom. Their three bedroomed house suited them perfectly Kurt and Mike actually liked sharing with each other. They bonded quite a lot once the switch had been made and it strengthened their relationship. She knew that Mike would have been at lacrosse practise until later on (Kurt and Aria alternated days to pick him up until he could drive himself) so he burst into the room where Kurt sat, writing.

“What are you writing?”

Kurt’s eyes clouded slightly. “Something. It’s rather personal.”

Aria nodded. She got that. So, she decided to fire another question at him.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" It was blunt, but that was the only way it could be.

"No?" Kurt phrased his reply like a question, the way he always did. He seemed genuinely confused. Aria knew that Kurt was one hell of an actor so his feigning bemusement was not as genuine as it might have seemed. She simply knew him that well.

"-A sure seems to think that there is." It was a cheap shot, but it was a shot indeed.

"So now you're siding with -A?" Kurt snapped. “Against your own brother? That’s family, indeed.”

"No, Kurt, I'm just...you've been acting weird since this all started and you wouldn't tell me what -A had on you."

"It's not my secret to tell,” Kurt said shortly.

"Whose is it then? Mike's? Mom? Dad? Who, Kurt? Because if all of this comes down around us, it'll be your fault!" Aria yelled and perhaps she shouldn’t have. Everybody was entitled to secrets, but the six had vowed that they would tell each other anything that could possibly have gotten them into trouble with –A so that they were all prepared for any potential repercussion that may have come their way.

Kurt was confused. "And telling you is going to somehow make everything better? This isn't something that can be fixed, Aria! It happened and all that's left is the consequences. You don't want to keep this secret, trust me." If that wasn’t ominous, Aria did not know what was.

"I don’t want to keep it! I want to deal with it!"

"No. You don't! Didn't you hear me? You _cannot_ fix this! Nobody can. It was a mistake. And it’s over and done with. I’m trying to forget about it, Aria. But when you’re constantly questioning me, it’s kind of hard to do.”

"Fine. Keep it to yourself. But don't expect any sympathy from me when this all comes apart!" Aria crossed her arms, furious with her twin. She had no idea where the sudden burst of anger stemmed from, but it was there festering in her gut. And Kurt was the recipient.

"Speaking of keeping secrets, how about you tell me what -A has on you? You've been awfully quiet since this morning!" Kurt challenged.

"I can't,” Aria muttered feebly. _Pot, meet kettle_ , she thought to herself.

"So you understand? Having a secret that's so potentially damaging that you can't even tell your best friend in the world about it! We should be on the same page. Look, I'm sorry, Ari, I really am. I don't want this secret. But I'm hoping it should be okay sometime soon."

"I'm sorry for snapping at you. And of course I'll be there for you if it goes bad. I just got angry,” Aria said, hoping that he would accept her apology.

“I know. I do understand why you are. I’m being incredibly secretive, I know. And when you know, it’ll explain everything, I promise.”

Aria nodded. “How did you find school today?”

“Good, actually. Besides the suspicious eyes wondering if I’m capable of murder, it’s been good. English class was interesting. Mr. Fitz actually wants to teach. And plus, he’s gorgeous. Imagine the dates he would take his girlfriend or boyfriend on. I’m hoping it’s boyfriend, because things need to go my way sometime soon.”

“What about Jason?” Aria smirked. Kurt’s blush was enough to confirm her suspicion.

“What _about_ Jason?”

“You’re _so_ into each other, it hurts.”

“We are not!” Kurt sighed. “Okay, we are. Well, I am. I think he is, but this is new territory for me.”

Aria chuckled. “Trust me, I saw the way he looked at you after the funeral. He wants you, Kurt.”

Kurt nodded. “I know! I could just sing!”

“And I’m still woefully single.”

“Ari, you’re related to me. We shared a womb. You’re a catch,” Kurt winked. “Trust me, I know it’s cliché, but the perfect guy is waiting for you. I know he is. But you’re an awesome person without the added baggage of a boyfriend. Embrace your independence.”

Aria thought about how she was doing the opposite in getting involved with her teacher, but brushed those thoughts aside. “You know, you’re right. I’m going to be willingly single until college. I’ve decided.” She planted that particular seed just so that Kurt would not be suspicious of her behaviour.

Kurt’s reply was interrupting by their father entering the door. Kurt knew in his gut that it was the right time to tell Ella everything. He just needed to convince his father to do it. Or else, he would.

“I thought he was working late again tonight,” Aria frowned.

“Maybe someone else is covering,” Kurt suggested. “I need to talk to him anyway about something. I don’t suppose you could help Ella with the dishes tonight and I’ll cover yours for tomorrow?”

Aria nodded, punching her twin on the arm. “Of course. Anything for you, dear brother.” Aria bounded out of the room and joined Ella in the kitchen, talking about school and work.

Byron crossed the hallway and was stopped by an adamant Kurt.

“Byron? A word, in here please?” This was one of the times Kurt hated his family’s informality. It seemed like he was colder than he intended to be.

“Kurt, I think I know what you are about to say.”

Kurt braced himself. "You've made me keep this secret for two months now and it's tearing me apart! You need to make things right. The longer you keep this from mom, the worse it'll be."

"Kurt—,” Byron attempted to interject, but Kurt needed to say his piece before Byron steamrollered all over it like he usually did.

"No, you can't just deflect from your problems like you always do. This is serious. You’re making me hide things from everyone I care about! You're telling her tonight, Dad. Or I promise you that I will do it right now if you do not concur."

"I can't tell her." Byron said sadly. Kurt shook his head.

"Well, then I'm doing it. Right now. And she's going to hate me for being the one to tell her. I should've done this when I found out about you and her! How did I let you talk me into keeping quiet?” Kurt went to leave the room.

"Kurt, stop!" Byron hissed, grabbing Kurt's arm, twisting it painfully. Kurt’s face contorted into one of pain and he hissed.

"Dad! Let me go!" Kurt shrugged him off and went to Ella, who was washing the dishes from dinner. Kurt breathed in and his eyes flickered to Aria before he spoke.

“Ell— _Mom_ ,” Kurt began, the latter word feeling more appropriate in this situation. He needed the familial tie to remind Ella that he wasn’t the villain for keeping the secret. He was terrified, more so than when he confessed his sexuality to Mike when he wasn’t sure of his views on it.

“Is everything alright, Kurt?” Ella responded.

“ _No_ ,” Kurt said shakily, a tear dropping from his eye. He was briefly aware of Byron standing in the hallway and a set of footsteps, probably Mike’s, heading upstairs.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Aria inhaled, ready but also unprepared to hear her brother’s big secret.

Rubbing his shoulder, Kurt bit his lip. “I’ve been…keeping a secret for a few months now. I know I should have told you sooner, that would have been the right thing to do, but I was convinced not to and I couldn’t do it anymore!”

Ella just waited.

“Dad cheated on you. With Meredith Sorenson. I saw him in the back of his car parked around a corner far from the house. He was k-kissing her. It didn’t look like a one-time thing.”

Aria’s eyes widened and she glared angrily at her dad for both cheating and making Kurt lie about it. Byron just stared back.

Ella sighed despondently.

“I-I’m _so sorry_ for not telling you. Dad made me keep it a secret. I hate to be the one to tell you, but I c-couldn’t do it anymore,” Kurt sobbed as Ella embraced him. “I understand if you h-hate me.”

“Oh, Kurt. I don’t hate you and I never could. Ever. This isn’t your fault. You thought you were doing the right thing by protecting me.”

Then, Ella saw Byron in the hall. Passing Kurt over to Aria, she looked at him fiercely.

“Is this true, Byron? I believe Kurt, of course, I just want to hear it from you.”

Byron just nodded.

“SAY IT!” Ella yelled, more than a little bit angry.

“It’s true. I ch-cheated.”

Ella let out a strangled sob and Kurt buried his face into Aria’s shoulder.

“And did you make Kurt keep it a secret?”

“Yes.”

“You committed adultery and then asked your son to _lie_ to his whole family about it? How could you do that?” Ella had tears in her eyes, but she refused to cry over this in front of Byron.

“I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“But you had already done that by kissing somebody else. Tell me, did you sleep with her?”

Byron blanched. “Y-Yes.”

“Get out. You can sleep on the couch tonight but I don’t want to see you. Until you find a place to stay, I want you to make yourself scarce and then you’re _gone_. Do you understand me?”

Byron just left.

Aria stroked Kurt’s hair. “Kurt, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“I’m sorry for not telling you.”

Aria shook her head. “I understand why you didn’t.”

Kurt untangled himself from her and turned to Ella, who was silently crying. “Ella, I’m so sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything. I would have done the same thing. I’ll be okay. Aria, could you and check on Mike, please? I can’t face him right now.”

Aria went to move but Kurt stopped her. “No, I’ll do it.” He sniffled. “He should hear it from me.”

Kurt entered his room slowly and saw Mike sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. “Mike…”

Mike looked up with red, puffy eyes and a tense expression. “Don’t.”

“I’m sorry you had to hear it like that.”

“Why did you keep his secret? You should have told us!”

Kurt nodded, acknowledging his mistake. “I know I should have. I didn’t want to ruin everything.”

“Now everything is ruined. Mom and Dad are going to get divorced and we’ll be swapping from family to family as they both get remarried. All because of you!”

Kurt suddenly found himself on the defensive. “I didn’t cheat, Mike! Dad did. And he convinced me not to tell Mom! I’m not to blame here. I understand that you want to take your anger out on me. That’s fine, but at least acknowledge that I’m not the one to blame!”

“Fine! Dad is the one to blame! I’m sorry, okay? I know it must have been hard for you. I just can’t stand to watch everything fall apart.”

Kurt sat next to his brother, putting an arm around his shoulder. He suddenly felt really old when he felt Mike’s back muscles filling out. His baby brother was getting ripped. While Kurt was still slender and a baby penguin. “It’ll be alright, Mike. Mom and Dad might be able to work things out. Dad made a mistake. But whatever happens, you will _always_ have me. Okay?”

Mike’s face was suddenly against Kurt’s chest. Kurt heard the soft sobbing sounds from his brother and it played with his heartstrings. He hated when the people close to him cried. It was one of the worst sounds Kurt could ever hear.

“Hey, it’ll be okay.”

Kurt suddenly doubted that.

 


	4. Tainted Obligation

As soon as Spencer got home, she tried so desperately to forget about all of the –A business and the suspicion that lingered around her due to Jenna’s funeral and the ongoing murder investigation. And now that –A was stepping up their game, none of her secrets were safe anymore. She changed the hiding place of her Adderall pills just so that nobody found them if –A sent anybody looking. Yeah, Spencer was _so_ onto that bitch.

She thought about what they knew about –A thus far. They were good with computers, had a reason to hate all six of them and somehow knew everything about them. For a horrible moment, Spencer wondered if one of her friends was in cahoots with –A, even inadvertently. She shook her head, knowing that none of her friends would ever do such a wretched thing to the others, even if circumstances were different.

Sometimes, when Spencer was not caught up in all of her schoolwork, she would mourn the fact that she was single. A boyfriend was not imperative or even encouraged due to all of her scholastic pressure, but she wanted somebody who could calm her when she was too erratic or cuddle her when she couldn’t help it. Spencer tried to refocus on her paper due in Government, but images of cute romance movie scenes kept popping into her head. Plus, she had been made aware of the imminent arrival of Melissa’s perfect boyfriend, Wren, who was a medical student. She tried not to scoff at the irony of her angel of a sister to find an attractive, intelligent, ambitious guy who was fucking British. It just figured.

“Hello,” a voice said from the door. Spencer turned around and smiled. Talk of the devil and thou shalt appear.

“You must be Wren. Unless there are other British guys in Rosewood staying at my house.”

Wren shook his head. “I am Wren. I just wanted to say ‘hello’ considering you are going out for dinner tonight. Your father is taking Melissa and I out to some place in town. The official ‘meet the boyfriend’ dinner.”

Spencer chuckled. “Well, it’s a shame I can’t be there to protect you from the scalding glare that my father has honed over the years for future med student boyfriends.” The moment Spencer laughed, she saw Wren’s eyes flicker towards her cabinet.

Oh fuck.

She had forgotten to hide them.

“Adderall?” Wren tutted. “Spencer, these can get extremely dangerous. I can’t believe you’re taking them. How long have you been on them for?”

Spencer sighed. “Ever since I learned what they did.”

“Why, Spencer? You’re better than this?”

“First of all, we’ve had like not even a full conversation and you’re already making judgements about my character. I’m not Melissa, Wren. It may seem pretty tame to Mr. Oxford, but my classes are all AP and I’m drowning. In between those and parental pressures and trying to live up to the fantastical legacy that is Melissa Hastings, I have no time to do anything else. So I free up my nights for studying so that I can be a human in the daytime. Now here is usually the part where I beg that you not tell my parents, but accusing me of this looks worse for you, so…”

“From what I hear, you’re plenty smart without the help of speed.”

“Well, not everyone can make it to Oxford. The rest of us little people need a little leg up once in a while. This is my leg up.”

“Spencer, all of your classes are AP for a reason. They wouldn’t let you take all AP courses if they didn’t think that you could handle it.”

She sighed again, sick of his prying but flattered that he cares enough to be nosy. “Sometimes I think that I’m not naturally smart. I’ve been in advanced programs and taking summer classes ever since I learned the alphabet. All because of the Hastings reputation. My lawyer parents and my Wharton older sister are a lot to live up to. I’m forced every day to maintain the respect of my family and uphold the Hastings tradition of getting into UPenn.”

Wren didn’t miss the bitter tone on her final word. “I take it that you don’t want to attend UPenn? Where would you like to go, Spencer?”

Spencer blinked. “What?”

“Never been asked _that_ before, have you? Does Veronica just expect you to dream about UPenn like the rest of them did.”

“It’s not like I ever countered that. I can predict the sheer sandstorm of judgement and derision that I’ll be subjected to should I consider anywhere else. You would think it would be enough that I’m planning on going into criminal law like my parents, but I don’t want to attend UPenn. I am aiming for Ivy, though, I don’t think anywhere else would cut it. I would probably get disowned. But I was looking at brochures at my friend Kurt’s house and I quite like the look of Dartmouth or even Harvard.”

“I think you should go for it.”

“Wren, it’s sweet that you care, but I’m already being ostracised due to possible suspicion in a _murder_. My mom is hoping to ignore that at our talk with the UPenn administrates tonight. I’m the sidebar entertainment to Melissa’s main act, so I doubt I’ll get much time in anyway. You know what, forget I said anything. UPenn is where I want to go.”

“Spencer…”

“Could you just go please? I have to get ready for this dinner and I don’t know who is going to be harder to impress: The guys at UPenn or my mother.” Spencer laughed quickly before she turned the other way, hearing his footsteps on the way out.

Spencer took off her top, leaving her in just her bra when she impulsively turned around. Wren was still there, eyes unfocused. “Wren.”

“Sorry, I’ll go.”

“That’s probably best. Thank you, though. For the advice.” She shot him a winning smile.

“Anytime.”

Spencer picked up her blazer before hearing her phone emit her loud text tone. Rolling her eyes at the chance of it being –A, she opened the notification.

_Looks like old habits die hard in your romantic life as well, Spencer. Is Wren the new Ian? –A_

“Bitch,” Spencer hissed and put the finishing touches to her outfit as well as completing her hairstyle.

She saw her mother walk past her room before popping her head in. “Spencer, you’re running late! Oh, that’s what you’re wearing? Never mind. But you could have at least done your hair for tonight. This is a big deal, Spencer.”

Spencer wanted to cry. She had spent a lot of time on doing her hair and she thought it looked nice.

Apparently, nothing she did was ever good enough.

Emily rubbed her shoulder as she walked into her room. Her mother was on the phone in the sitting room and she thought it best not to disturb her. Pam Fields was an extremely kind woman at times, but hostility was never too far away where she was concerned.

She immediately went for her journal. Paige McCullers had been extremely temperamental in today’s practise and she felt the need to write about it. Emily rarely ever ranted in her usually serene journal entries, but she was feeling rather irked by the girl at the present moment. She had figured that Paige was gay. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure, it was just a feeling that Emily got. Emily didn’t know whether it was a competitive nature that lay within Paige of a more personal vendetta, but there was something that she was doing that did not quite feel right to Emily. She couldn’t put her finger on what the problem was, but it was definitely present.

Emily flicked through the pages of her journal until she quickly skimmed over the most recent entry about Alison. Just as she was about to turn the page, striking black ink at the bottom of her page caught her eye.

_Poor Emily, thinking that you have a chance with the most coveted girl in Rosewood? Think again, little Liar. I own you now –A_

“What?” She hissed, horrified that somebody, -A, had read her journal. –A already knew about her crush on Ali, but the bitch likely took pictures for photographic proof of her love. If Alison ever found out…Emily shook her head. She didn’t even want to think about it.

Her fingers traced over the leather-bound book before they ghosted across a jagged edge in the centre, almost as if…

Her eyes widened. A page had been _ripped out_ of her journal. She sighed. –A probably wanted it so that they could use it against her. Emily was so sick of –A.

Looking around, she sighed again, realising that there was absolutely nothing that she could do about the missing page. Deciding to go and get a snack, she swallowed.

Her mother was still on the phone as she reached the fridge. Stretching her arm out to grasp the handle, she paused, her heart plummeting down from her chest.

Reading the familiar lines of her own penmanship, Emily wanted to cry.

 _Something amazed happened today. Alison and I kissed. I don’t think there is any better feeling than kissing the girl you’re in love with. It makes everything seem brighter and better_. _What better way to experience your first kiss than with the person you can see yourself marrying. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t happen, the hope is all that matters. Sometimes, it’s so much that you find yourself caught up in what you want rather than what is going to happen._

“I just got off the phone with your father. I hope you realise that he's as livid about this as I am." Emily is crestfallen.

"I don't understand."

"When you leave parts of your diary on the refrigerator for me to see, you can't play dumb, Emily. I saw what you wrote and it makes me sick to think that I raised you to be...this way."

"This is who I am, Mom. This doesn't change anything." Emily’s sob ripped from her throat like acid.

"No, this changes _everything_. I thought I raised you right. What is everybody going to think about you now? What are they going to think about _me_?"

"I don't care what the neighbours think, Mom."

“You know what? Maybe you should. Because then at least you might learn that you can’t be…this way inclined when the town is so small. It’s not right!”

“Mom, _please_!” Emily was fully crying now.

"I don't want to see you again tonight. Just go upstairs."

"Mom--."

"EMILY JUST GO UPSTAIRS!" Pam shouted, surprising Emily. Her mom rarely shouted at her. She guessed that this was worse than merely forgetting to take out the trash. Her life was spinning out of control and, ironically, all she wanted was Alison. She dialled her number and planned to climb out of the window.

“Ali?” Emily sniffled.

“Em? Is everything okay? Is it –A? Do you want me to come over?” Alison’s voice is like medicine.

“No, don’t. My mom would flip. Can I come over instead?”

Alison swallowed. “Yes, of course. Stay the night if you want.” Emily thought she heard a faint trace of _something_ in Alison’s voice.

“Thanks, Ali.”

“I’m just gonna go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back,” Sean muttered to Hanna, who was somewhere else entirely. Physically, she was sat in Sean’s living room. Mentally, her brain was all over the place; thinking about –A, Jenna and her relationship with Sean. She knew that was going to lose him sooner or later, and she didn’t know which she preferred.

Sooner would let her be free and move on from Sean as he had clearly already done from her. Hanna thought that it was rather selfish of him to stay with her while he was in love with somebody else. Hanna figured that being truthful was always the best way to go about things. That was why she had begged her friends to tell the cops about their involvement in Jenna’s accident. The chubbier, more timid version of her had wanted to be honest, but the bolder personalities had won out. Kurt, Alison and Spencer had been terribly scared of what they had done and covered up the crime with a vehement attitude.

As her mind wandered, the buzz of her phone startled her. Sean still wasn’t around and she felt a sense of dread in her heart that told her that –A had texted her. _Great. What does this bitch want now?_

_Hey, Hefty! Press play to confirm your suspicions. I have eyes everywhere. Remember that… -A_

Hanna scoffed and hesitantly pressed the play button. She wasn’t sure what she was about to say, but she had a hunch.

Her eyes were soon overseeing the busy crowds of the mall, but the camera had focused in on one interaction in particular. She saw Alison, looking as fabulous as ever and then…

Her boyfriend, leaning in to try and kiss her. Alison pushed him off and then slapped him hard across the face. Sean’s words reverberated around her brain.

_“Ali, Hanna’s great. But she’s not you.”_

A tear slipped down her face as Sean emerged from the bathroom.

“What’s wrong, Hanna Banana?” Hanna really hated that name.

“Don’t give me that, Sean!” Hanna hissed and shoved her phone in her face. “Now I have proof! You’re in love with Alison!”

Sean paled. “Hanna—.”

“No. We’re done, Sean! Don’t try and talk to me. And don’t expect to ever get Alison. She’s so much better than you are, the comparison is almost unfair. But I don’t give a shit about you.” Hanna smirked through her tears and grabbed his car keys off the counter. Sean just stared, his mouth flapping open and closed.

Hanna climbed into Sean’s sports car and started the engine. Her tears were starting to cloud her vision, but she could still see where she was going.

Crying and trying to clear her head, Hanna lost control of the car. The wheels spun around and the back hit a tree on a backroad somewhere. In fact, she didn’t actually know where she was.

She decided to sit on the floor to ground herself. “Get it together. You’re Hanna Marin.”

She sighed.

Who exactly _was_ Hanna Marin? She didn’t want to simply be Alison 2.0 as she was sometimes labelled. Since she lost the weight, the resemblances between herself and Alison were shocking and people occasionally confused them. Their fashion choices were similar (Kurt picked them out usually) and they walked with a similar gait. Hanna understood why it was sometimes hard to tell them apart, especially from behind.

She wanted to be her own person.

Sniffling, she pulled out her phone and scrolled until she found the person who she needed. She could’ve called any of her friends and they would have come, but she only knew that one of them would definitely cheer her up right now.

“Hey,” Hanna spoke softly down the phone.

“Hanna? Is everything okay?”

“Not really. Could you come and get me? I’m…uh…”

“Wait, you don’t know where you are? I thought you were with Sean today.”

“Kurt, everything is fucked up.”

“Make sure your phone is connected to your data and I’ll find you. This is why everyone should download _Find My Friends_. Sit tight, Han.”

“Thanks, Kurt.”

Kurt found her twenty minutes later. She was sat on the same patch of pavement that she had occupied whilst on the phone to him. Kurt took one look at the totalled car and sighed. Looking sadly at her, he joined her on the floor.

“Alison?” Kurt guessed.

Hanna shook her head. “ _Sean_. Well, yeah Alison too. He loves her, Kurt. Or at least he thinks he does. –A sent me a video of him trying to kiss her while she was at the mall. She slapped him and told him not to be a dick. He said that I was great, but I wasn’t her. I’ll never be her, will I?”

Kurt shook her head. “No, you won’t. But I’ll never b Brad Pitt or Ben Affleck. You’re Hanna Marin and Hanna Marin is pretty damn great.”

Hanna shook her head. “Being Hanna Marin doesn’t exactly get me many places. Not when there are people like Alison around. I’m still Hefty Hanna and I’ll always be Hefty Hanna as long as Alison is around.”

Kurt took her hand. “You never were Hefty Hanna. Hanna, you've always been beautiful. Seriously."

"Not in Rosewood, I’m not.”

"However I phrase this, I'm going to sound like a massive cliché, and I’m honestly not just saying this because you’re my best friend, but Sean doesn't know what he's missing out on. I've seen you at our sleepovers and damn, if I was straight I'd be hitting that every day." Hanna giggled.

"Thanks, Kurt, but seriously I cannot think about you being straight, it messes with my head. Can we go back to the world where you're lusting after Jason DiLaurentis please?"

"I am not _lusting_ after anyone, Hanna! I haven't liked anyone since Noel and we all know how that backfired." Kurt sighed.

"That doesn't mean you can't like anyone now! There are guys out there who aren't Noel, Kurt,” Hanna pointed out.

"I know that."

"Like Jason."

"Hanna--."

"Admit that you like him and I'll drop the subject. Just admit it."

"I...feel somewhat more than friendship for Jason, yes. But I don't think I'm ready to confront those feelings just yet," Kurt explained. Hanna clapped her hands together.

"Well, apparently, he is. Nobody asks to talk to someone in private unless it's about getting on that."

"Oh, how eloquently phrased. Jason is straight, Hanna, just like everybody else I've ever taken an interest in. I'm not going to find anybody who is straight and wants something more than a quick blowjob in a bathroom." Kurt's eyes widened, realising what he had just said. Crap.

Hanna smirked. "What?! You gave someone a blowjob in a bathroom and kept it from me? Ugh, spill _everything_ , Montgomery!"

Kurt explained his brief encounter with Wilden at Noel's party. Hanna asks if it was consensual and Kurt shakes his head, teary-eyed.

“You need to tell the cops about this!” Hanna exclaims.

“Wilden is one of them, Han! Nobody else was there. It was my word against his. He’s the big shot detective, who do you think that they’ll believe? If it ever came down to me versus him, he would win with a bullet. I’m the one the police suspect for Jenna’s murder and he’s the one investigating it. I have no leg to stand on here.”

Hanna frowns, confused.

“It’s a metaphor,” Kurt chuckled.

“Do you think that…?”

“If you’re asking if I think Wilden is –A then I have no idea. I don’t think we can rule anybody out yet. Like Jason said to me the other day, Jenna had a lot of enemies. But she also had a lot of admirers and friends. It could be any of them.”

Hanna looks down at her watch and sighs. “Ugh, I have to go. I promised I would meet Mona at the mall and I think I’m late.”

“I’m your ride, remember? I’ll drop you there.”

Kurt returned home after giving Hanna over to Mona and expects to find his family, whatever was left of it, sat around the TV. Walking into the sitting room, he finds that it’s just Byron. A funny feeling squirms in Kurt’s stomach and he takes a deep breath.

“Where’s everybody else?”

“Your mother is out shopping with Aria. Mike is at a lacrosse game and they are picking him up when they come home.” Byron’s tone was the coldest it had ever sounded.

“Oh,” was all Kurt could reply.

“I hope you’re happy with the way you just tore this family apart, Kurt,” Byron sipped his scotch on the rocks with a furious glare at his oldest son.

“I did the right thing for this family. The longer we covered it up, the more destructive it would get! And let’s not forget the fact that this only happened because of _you_ all because you couldn’t keep it in your pants!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH, KURT!” Byron splayed his hand and the glass flew out of it, crashing loudly against the far wall. Kurt winced, but recovered quickly.

“No! This has gone too far! You made the mistake, now you should deal with the repercussions!” Kurt yelled.

“Don’t you _dare_ speak to me that way! I’m your father.”

“You certainly have a funny way of showing it!”

“Don’t talk back. Now, Kurt, can’t we just discuss this?”

“I’m done talking about this.”

“No. You’re not! Not until you admit that this was your fault and nobody else’s. Well, except maybe Meredith’s. Then again, you can’t really blame her that much. When older men take an interest, I suppose it’s kind of flattering and I bet she couldn’t wait to open her legs for you and—.”

Kurt was silenced by the powerful force of Byron’s fist against his face. Kurt collapsed to the floor, holding his head. He had lost every trace of anger that he had been saving up. Now he just felt sad and confused. “Dad…”

But Byron had already slammed the door shut, leaving Kurt to sob quietly on the hallway floor, nobody around to console him.

So he just cried.

And cried.

And cried until there were no more tears left to shed over his father.

He cried until Ella, Aria and Mike came home and found his still crumpled on the floor, holding himself as though he would fall apart if he let go.

“Oh my God, Kurt!” Aria rushed to his side, as did the others. Mike dropped his lacrosse gear and went to sit by his sister.

“What happened?” Ella gestured to the large bruise that was already beginning to take shape on his face.

Kurt didn’t know what to do.

He could have told them or lied. More lies would mean more fallout in the future, but he didn’t really want to let them know that Byron had punched him.

Sighing, he saw no other way out of this.

“Dad was angry at me. He lashed out, but he didn’t mean to!”

Ella looked furious and Mike swallowed heavily. Aria looked murderous and Kurt just sat there.

“Did he apologise?”

Kurt shook his head. “He left. I don’t think he’ll be back tonight. If he is, I don’t want to see him.”

Ella clucked. “Yes, you and me both. I’m sorry, Kurt.”

“This isn’t your fault. Dad is just…honestly I don’t know what to say about him.”

The Montgomery family roped each other into a tight family hug, excluding the paternal part of the typical family layout. They would never be a normal family again and, in time, that would be okay with them.

If Kurt had been looking at his phone, he would have seen a text.

_Daddy’s bruise will heal, Kurt. The effects of my next surprise won’t be so gentle. I can’t wait to see the look on your face. I’m going to take a picture. –A_


	5. We'll Never Make It Out Of This Place

Alison led Emily up to her room, her hand pressed lightly on the small of Emily’s back. She was concerned. The look on Emily’s face was akin to the one that she had on it when they all found out that Jenna died. So something bad must have happened to her. She wasn’t nearly ready to tell Emily that she was in love with her, or so she thought, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to always be there for her. Sometimes, she would glance at the girl and infer some sort of shared feelings, but that was merely Alison looking for something that wasn’t there. Wasn’t it? Alison didn’t know anymore.

“Do you want to talk about it, Em?” Ali pressed gently, not wanting to broach a sore subject with as little tact as some guy would.

At first, Emily shook her head adamantly. She didn’t really want to talk about such a thing with the girl she was writing about, but she had no choice. She was in a corner with Alison and this was the time she would get herself out of it. “My mom knows.”

Alison got the meaning immediately. She knew how scared Emily was of Pam finding out that she was into girls and her mother couldn’t have taken it well if she was currently here talking to her rather than cuddling with Pam Fields.

“Oh, honey,” Alison whispered sympathetically. She wasn’t out to her parents, or even her friends, so she didn’t really know how it was for people to know about her, but she could imagine. She could imagine the disapproval lining Pam’s face. Emily loved her mother, as much as she pressured her daughter, so Pam’s reaction wouldn’t do her any good. Alison just hoped that she wouldn’t go back into the closet claiming that her ‘phase’ was over or something to regain her mother’s attention. She had heard of it happening, but somehow she knew that Emily was stronger than that. Emily was definitely stronger than that. “Was it awful?”

Emily nodded tearfully. Alison grasped her hand, feeling how soft it was against her own. “She hates me.”

Alison leaned back against her headboard and gestured for Emily to lean on her, which she did. Alison felt Emily’s head on her chest and sighed contentedly when she realised that Emily needed her help.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“It was –A, Ali. –A put my journal up on the refrigerator for my mom to read. It was about…me being happy that I was out to you guys. I got home and realised that there was a page ripped out. There was nothing I could do! She just looked at me the same way that she sometimes looks at Kurt when she thinks I’m not looking. I wish she wasn’t like this, Ali. She said she raised me to not be like this. She doesn’t understand that it’s not a choice! Why can’t she love me?” Emily sat upright and Ali untangled her fingers from her hair, missing the contact already.

“She should,” Alison smiled sweetly. “You’re her daughter.” Alison bravely picked up Emily’s hand, bringing it to her lips.

“You’re her beautiful,” Alison said, kissing a knuckle, “Amazing, talented, brave, _perfect_ daughter.” Alison kissed each knuckle as she spoke each adjective. Emily was breathless, seeing the girl she loved kiss her so delicately was something she never thought that she would see again. And it was everything.

“I’m not perfect,” Emily muttered, instead of mentioning the fact that Alison had just kissed her. Her heart was about to explode and it wasn’t helping that Alison looked so good right now.

“But you are,” Alison countered, “You’re not afraid of being exactly who you are. I admire you, Emily. You’re so brave and so kind and _true_. Your mom raised you exactly right. I love you, Emily.”

Emily’s eyes widened fractionally as she registered Alison’s words. She flashed back to her own journal, part of which was still on the refrigerator. “You…love me?”

Alison nodded silently. “I do. And I hate that it has taken me until know to tell you that. Wow, I have the _worst_ timing.”

Emily shook her head, eyes full of tears. “Your timing couldn’t be more perfect.” She leaned in, pressing her lips to Alison’s as she had done only twice before. Once in the library and once at Noel Kahn’s party in the photo booth. They didn’t take a picture. They just wanted some privacy. They were both drunk and neither spoke of it afterwards. “I love you, too,” Emily added after their kiss ended.

Alison’s eyes fluttered open and she breathed in the scent of Emily around her. She was right all along. Kissing Emily was like magic.

Kurt sat on the park bench, tapping his foot. People had been giving him weird looks all day. Of course, being a suspected murderer tended to have that effect.

Noel silently sat beside him, looking at the floor.

“Noel,” Kurt regarded somewhat coldly.

“Hey. Listen, I’m sorry for how I acted after the funeral. I’m just…trying to deal with this.”

Kurt put a tentative hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Noel. I understand. If you feel like being angry at me helps, then I’ll be a punching bag if you need one.”

Kurt, in that moment, admitted to himself that he still wasn’t completely over Noel Kahn.

“I can’t do that to you.”

Suddenly, a pang of bitterness enveloped him. “What’s stopping you from repeating history?”

Noel sighed and Kurt instantly felt bad. Despite the way he was treating, Noel was grieving. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you today. Kurt, I never wanted to treat you like that. I swear. I knew about your crush on me and it didn’t bother me. I was kind of flattered, actually.”

Kurt chuckled. “I hope you’re going somewhere with this.”

“I am,” Noel reassured him. “I promise. Jenna was blackmailing me. There’s…something she knows and she used it against me. If I didn’t hurt you, she would make sure that everybody knew about it.”

Kurt’s curiosity was piqued. He knew that Noel was being honest, he could tell. “Care to share?”

Noel sighed. “I’d rather not. I hope you understand that. You don’t owe me anything after the way I acted, but I wanted you to know that that wasn’t my plan. Before Jenna got to me, I wanted to talk to you about your feelings.”

Kurt stared. “And lament about how unrequited they were over a drink?”

Noel let out a little laugh. “How are you so sure that they were unrequited?”

Kurt gaped. Surely _not_. No fucking way. “What?”

Noel just nodded. “You’re a pretty cool guy, Kurt. You’re brave, intelligent and you have that adorable smile of yours.”

Kurt ignored the compliments (though registered them for future pondering) and focused on the big question. “You’re…?”

“Gay? No. Bisexual, rather. It’s not really a secret, it’s just ignored. I hate that you were abused for it and I got away unscathed, even though everybody knew.”

Kurt nodded. “It doesn’t bother me.”

“It bothers me.”

“Noel, I’m…kind of seeing someone.”

Noel nodded. “Jason DiLaurentis is a good guy.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Was there a town hall meeting about me and Jason DiLaurentis?”

“No, but it’s not hard to miss.”

Kurt frowned, wondering how everyone and their grandmother knew about whatever it was going on between him and Jason. “Why did you ask me here, Noel?”

“To apologise. To make sure you know that I know that you didn’t kill her.”

“So you believe me?”

Noel nodded. “I do. I only went to that place because I have no other leads. Even though mine and Jenna’s relationship with partly due to the conditions of her blackmail, I still cared about her very much. I know she wasn’t the best person, but she was a friend.”

Kurt’s phone began to ring and ha answered it immediately, seeing Ella’s name pop up on the screen. “Hey, what’s up?”

Ella sighed down the phone. “Kurt. Come home. Now. I have to go.”

Kurt barely had time to say “Wait, Ella, what’s going on?” before the phone connection was broken, leaving Kurt confused.

“I have to go,” Kurt announced and Noel stood up.

“I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks, Kurt, for being so understanding about everything.”

Kurt dipped his head. “That’s what I do best.”

“Can I have a hug?”

Kurt nodded and Noel stepped forward, wrapping his strong arms around Kurt’s frame. Kurt couldn’t help but feel a little strange. That had been all he had wanted for years, for Noel to be wrapped around him, but now it was different. Noel had had feelings for him! Plus, he was involved in a thing with Jason now, whatever it was. But he couldn’t deny that feeling Noel’s body against his spun his entire world around. It was like a kaleidoscope, colours fading in and out of each other and shapes melding into each other. All whilst spinning around, blurring the lines and making every movement a maelstrom and colour and emotion.

“I’ve waited for this for so long,” Noel murmured into Kurt’s ear. Kurt then realised that they had been hugging over the usual friendly time limit, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to shake Noel off. Noel didn’t seem to want to move either. Kurt remembered that he had to get home, as soon as possible.

“Noel. I need you to let go.”

“Do you _want_ me to?” Noel challenged, whispering in his low voice which rumbled through the small space and infected Kurt’s ear.

That was quite the intriguing question. _Did_ he want to let go of Noel? At the present moment, no he didn’t. Thinking of Jason, he did want to let go. But then he would think of Noel once again and the deadly circle would continue once more. It wasn’t really a question of Noel or Jason, not really. Kurt didn’t believe that Noel was still into him, but the way the other boy held him seemed to say a lot about it.

Kurt bit his lip, feeling emotions fly all over his body, waiting to be released. “No,” he whispered. His heart thumped powerfully as the word was whispered and Kurt slowly untangled himself. “I have to go.”

“Can I call you?”

Kurt squeezed his eyes shut and then nodded. Why was he feeling bad? It wasn’t like he was cheating on Jason or anything. They weren’t actually together and he and Noel would just be friends. Kurt _needed_ them to just be friends. Noel was too unpredictable, like a fireball that could strike anywhere. And if his heart went up in flames, _again_ , well that was something he didn’t think he could handle.

Aria sat on the small couch, her legs swinging idly as she looked around the place. Old movie posters and stacks of classical literature seemed to be Ezra Fitz’s trademarks. She simply adored the style of the place, especially the typewriter on the desk. She had always wanted one, or even to use one, but she had never gotten around to finding one that she liked. There was something about using a typewriter to transfer her fictional ideas onto paper that excited her. She guessed that Ezra did that every single day. If he didn’t, she figured that he was wasting it.

“Do you like it?” Ezra asked her, gesturing around at his possessions.

Sure, the place was a little small, but it had a certain charm that she really enjoyed about it. She nodded. “I do. It’s a cute place. It’s very… _you_.”

“Because of the books and the typewriter? That’s an English teacher stereotype.”

Aria shook her head. “No, it’s not that. You don’t strike me as somebody who enjoys having lots of material possessions. This apartment is very laidback but with a lovable charm that makes it a great place. It’s kind of like you in that respect.”

Ezra chuckled, putting a hand on her cheek and kissing her with a righteous passion that made what they were doing so much riskier. He was falling for her; _hard_. That could be a troubling issue, one that they needed to work past if they were ever going to make it. “Do you think we’re worth the risk?”

“Don’t you?” Aria shot back, crinkling her nose worriedly.

“I never stated a stance on this question, I simply asked _you_.”

Aria had to give it to him for thoroughness, but it was merely semantics. “This is definitely worth any risk involved. I know that the repercussions for you would be more severe, but I’ve never felt like this before. You give me something to look forward to every day. It’s not often I _enjoy_ going to school and sitting among some of my peers who cannot describe the difference between Di Caprio and Da Vinci. This thing we have, it’s only going to grow stronger. And I can’t wait for when it does.”

Ezra smiled. He loved Aria’s passion about things, be it art, her family or, well, _him_. “I’m not going to ignore the dangers of our relationship, but I think that being with you definitely outranks going to jail or losing my job. This is… _real_ and feelings like ours don’t come around very often.”

“We’ll have to be very careful,” Aria remarked, her eyes widening just a little bit.

“Sneaking around might be kinda hot,” Ezra winked and Aria laughed.

“Sneaking around is definitely going to be hot. And seeing you teach every day in class and knowing that you’re teaching the class using lips that I’ve kissed is kind of a turn on.”

Aria leaned forward and put her hands on Ezra’s chest, feeling the warm, surprisingly hard muscle underneath his shirt. “I didn’t know that teachers were even _allowed_ to work out.”

“We’re a dying breed,” Ezra whispered between kisses, pulling Aria down on top of him. He was lying on his back, his hands up in her hair and on her back. Aria grasped Ezra’s tie and undid it, pulling it from around his neck. She undid a few shirt buttons until Ezra leaned up and removed it. Aria kissed down his body, Ezra appreciating how soft her lips were.

They were quite rudely interrupted by the shrill ring of Aria’s phone. In times like this, she _needed_ to answer her phone, just in case something happened with her friends or her brother. Also, due to the tense atmosphere in her house since Byron hit Kurt, her family needed her more than she needed to be with Ezra. As strongly as she felt for him, she needed to prioritise her family and she always would.

“Aria, you need to come home!” Ella cried down the phone, a sob interrupting the usually fluid flow of her words.

“Mom, is everything okay?”

“Just…come home. Please.”

“I’m on my way.”

Ezra looked at her sadly.

“Please don’t,” she began. “I really want to be here, but my mom sounds really upset. I need to get home. I’ll come home after school tomorrow, though, I promise. I’ll cook you something.”

“I’m sure that’ll be a lovely departure from my tradition of toast and the occasional Chinese takeout order.”

Aria kissed him on the head. “I’ll make something exotic. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Hope everything’s okay. With your family. Call me if you need me.”

“I will.”

As soon as Aria got home, she knew that it was a dire situation. The sight in front of her wasn’t comforting at all. Ella was crying and so was Mike. Mike _never_ cried.

“Mom?”

Aria’s world flipped upside down as Ella spoke.

_No._

She needed to call the girls as soon as possible.

Once everyone minus Kurt was assembled, Aria began pacing. This wasn’t happening.

“Aria,” Emily said, “tell us what’s wrong.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. As if everything wasn’t already so messed up. “It’s Kurt.”

“What about him?” Alison frowned concernedly.

“He’s been arrested. Wilden was here and looked pretty pleased to see him in handcuffs.”

Hanna snorted, but the rest of them ignored her. She recalled that none of the other girls knew about the situations with Wilden at Noel’s party.

“Wait, they found evidence?” Spencer’s head perked up.

Aria nodded. “His bracelet was in the shed.”

“What does that mean?” Spencer replied.

Aria pursed her lips. “It means either he did it or someone set him up. We know he didn’t do it. Who was it?”

“Maybe –A?” Emily suggested.

Hanna scoffed. “Of course it was –A. Who else?”

Simultaneously, their phones buzzed.

_Looks like Kurtie’s behind bars and Jenna’s killer is home free. Whoops, my bad. Sleep tight while you can, Little Liars. Xoxo –A_


	6. Silence Is Louder Without You

Spencer sighed and drummed her fingers against the kitchen counter, thinking about Kurt. Kurt Montgomery was probably the last person she expected to be able to handle prison. Kurt liked manicures and reading the newest issue of _Vogue_ magazine.

And now –A had framed him for the murder of Jenna Marshall. And nobody delivered _Vogue_ subscriptions to Cell Block H.

She knew what she had to do. It was the only thing she could possibly think of doing. She lived in a house with a criminal lawyer and a civil lawyer, it was an easy fix. And Veronica Hastings was one of the most well-regarded litigators in the country. There was a reason Veronica was absent a lot and it had a lot to do with the high demand set upon her. Californians would often request her help and, if the money was worth it, she would make the trip. Travel expenses covered, of course. Veronica Hastings was nothing if not helpful to her clients.

She was also wise with a deadly intelligence in her arsenal.

Naturally, she knew that Spencer was going to come to her.

The moment Veronica hit the ground floor of their house, Spencer perked up and put on her best puppy expression.

“Morning, Mom!” Spencer said, uncharacteristically chirpy for this time of day.

Veronica smirked. “Good morning, daughter of mine. Looks like you made breakfast?”

Spencer glanced at the fresh orange juice adjacent to the array of breakfast foods that she had prepared for her mother’s arrival downstairs. The bacon was crispier than Spencer usually made it and the eggs were sunny side up, because they were her mother’s favourites. “I figured you would need a big breakfast for a big day at work.”

Veronica sighed. “I can’t take Kurt’s case, sweetie.”

Spencer glared, jaw clenched. “Why the hell not? You’re one of the best lawyers in the country! You can get him off!”

Veronica looked at her impassioned daughter sadly. She cared so much and it was inspiring. “I’m connected to the case, Spencer. I can’t have my daughter’s best friend as my client. It’s a professional/personal conflict of interest. But I know the police in this town, Spencer, better than you do. I’ll be the first one to admit there’s corruption everywhere. Somebody wants Kurt to go down for this and I’m wholly sure he’s innocent.

“Which is why I’ve asked an old friend to step in, instead. She broke my streak of forty-nine successful outcomes in cases. She’s the best lawyer I’ve ever seen in action, including myself.” A laugh.

“And she’s coming to Rosewood just like that?”

Veronica smirked into the distance. “It just so happens that she owes me a favour. I’ve cashed it in now. I can’t have my favourite child going to jail now can I?”

Spencer chuckled. It was a commonly known fact in Rosewood that Veronica Hastings wished that Kurt Montgomery was her own child. Not literally, but they got on like a house on fire. They talked politics, literature, cinema, everything. Peter also adored Kurt and often joked about trading one of the girls for him. Usually, it was Spencer. On a good day, Melissa’s name would be thrown into the mix. Sometimes, a tipsy Ella Montgomery agreed to the trade and would sling her arm around Spencer.

Spencer hated it when her parents had friends over _and_ consumed alcohol. It was not a good combination.

“No you can’t,” Spencer whispered.

Veronica smiled. “Spence, honey, is there _anything_ that could implicate Kurt for this murder?”

Spencer frowned. “No! Absolutely not!”

“His bracelet?”

Spencer’s mouth flapped open, about to shout about the manipulations of –A, but shut again once she remembered how dire the repercussions would be if she told anybody. She hated not being able to talk. “Both Hanna and Mrs. Montgomery said something about Detective Wilden wanting Kurt to go down for this. Maybe he planted it there. Corrupt cops and all.”

Veronica hummed idly. “Well there’s no point sending it for DNA matches, because Kurt’s prints would be all over it.”

“But surely you can see who else’s are on there!”

Veronica looked thoughtful. “Usually, but I’m guessing that once the Rosewood PD see that Kurt’s prints are on it, they’ll skip over the other findings the lab comes back with.”

Spencer shook her head. “This lawyer of yours better be brilliant. Who is it anyway?”

Veronica smirked. “Alicia Florrick.”

Spencer gaped. “As in _Peter Florrick’s wife?”_

“The very same. She was more than happy to take the case. In fact, she’s meeting with Kurt in about an hour. Don’t worry about this, Spencer. Alicia can easily acquire Kurt bail and then either get the case thrown up and his record expunged, or convince the jury. She almost convinced me that my own guilty client didn’t do it.”

“She’s a remarkable woman.”

“That she is,” Veronica nodded.

In a holding cell, Kurt Montgomery thought so, too.

It had only taken three minutes for Kurt to become utterly obsessed with Alicia Florrick. He already loved her because of how she had handled her husband’s scandal, both acknowledging it and separating herself from it at the same time. He didn’t think too highly of Peter Florrick anyway and was often indulging in the rumours that she was engaged in something with Will Gardner.

**Previously…**

_“Kurt Montgomery?”_

_Kurt frowned. “Alicia Florrick? What are you doing here?”_

_Alicia laughed. “I’m glad we don’t have to do those incessant introductions. Veronica Hastings asked me to look over this as a favour to her.”_

_“Not to be ungrateful, but I’m honoured that you’ve taken the time to be here, but aren’t you awfully busy with the impending Colin Sweeney debacle?”_

_Alicia’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re following my career?”_

_Kurt nodded. “As religiously as I can. I think you’re a magnificent woman and lawyer.”_

_“Well, thank you, Kurt. Now, Veronica has filled me in with some of the details, but I was wondering if you could talk to me about your relationship with Miss Marshall.”_

_Kurt nodded and rehashed every running thread that connected him with Jenna Marshall._

**Now…**

“I was certainly expecting more of a motive than that,” Alicia coughed.

“I’m not a killer, Mrs. Florrick.”

“Oh, Alicia, please.”

“Certainly. I’m being completely forthright with you when I say that I don’t know how my bracelet ended up in the DiLaurentis shed. I’ve never even been in that shed.”

“But you’re often at the DiLaurentis house?”

Kurt nodded shortly. “That’s going to be a problem isn’t it?”

Alicia bit her lip. “It puts you _near_ the crime scene, which could be an issue. Plus, from what I’ve gathered, the law enforcement detail here isn’t exactly the greatest.”

Kurt sighed. “It’s a mess. One of the Detectives…well, we’re not the best of friends.”

“You’re going to have to elaborate on that.”

And Kurt launched into everything: Noel’s party, the “routine” interrogation, and that had sprouted into an explanation of his potential beef with everybody in the town.

“But there have been no eye-witnesses so far?” Alicia questioned.

Kurt shrugged. “The act itself took place in DiLaurentis yard. There won’t have been anyone to see it.”

Alicia skimmed through her notes. “That poses the question of what exactly Jenna was doing in the DiLaurentis property. My guess is that the body was moved into the shed to make it _look_ like Alison did it. Then they thought of you and stole your bracelet and planted it there.”

Kurt pouted, but agreed. “That makes this killer even more dangerous if I’m out on bail. That bracelet was always on my wrist, even at night. I only take it off to shower.”

“So they’re evasive,” Alicia concluded. “If I’m going to search for alternative suspects, I’ll need everything you know. So, is there something you are not telling me before we continue?”

Kurt knew that Alicia knew that there was, she could just read people like that, and he debated telling her about the various –A texts, but that would have unravelled a completely different ball of yarn, including his assault against Meredith and The Jenna Thing. If they got out, he had no defence. And plus –A would somehow know about it and hurt the girls more if Kurt was not granted his bail.

“No, I think you know everything that would be considered relevant to the case.” Kurt chose his words purposely and Alicia knew this.

However, she didn’t pry.

She never did.

The truth would always come out.

Spencer placed the large book back on its shelf and sighed, flipping open the next one. She had been working tirelessly in the library at Hollis looking through legal books to help Kurt’s case. As competent as Alicia Florrick truly was, an extra brain couldn’t hurt the case. As she rolled her eyes at the words she had seen a plethora of times today, a shadow flickered over her.

“Preparing for college already?”

Spencer jumped in her seat, gasping for breath. Flicking around, she noticed that Andrew Campbell had taken a seat a little bit away from her. “Jesus, Andrew! Make some noise when you walk! You don’t just creep up on somebody in the middle of a murder investigation.”

Andrew bobbed his head in apology and glanced at her book. “Seriously, are you _already_ studying for the BAR?”

Spencer rolled her eyes at him. “Not _quite_ yet. I’m looking through anything I can find to help with Kurt’s case. Precedents, statutes, amendments, anything I can find really.”

“He didn’t do it,” Andrew muttered.

“That’s why I’m researching. Not that he needs me. My mom got Alicia Florrick working the case.”

Andrew’s eyes widened in surprise. “Damn.”

“Right?” Spencer smirked.

“Can I help you?”

Spencer narrowed her eyes. “Why would you help?”

“Well, Kurt and I are friends. Probably _the_ most efficient Bio lab partner a guy could ask for. And we _were_ each other’s first kiss.”

Spencer laughed, remembering it from all those years ago. How times had changed. “Oh my God, he fake proposed to you!”

“Technically, we’re engaged,” Andrew winked. “but that might be an issue if he’s behind bars. Long distance relationships and all. I never planned to date a felon.”

“You’re into Kurt?”

Andrew laughed. “I’m kidding, of course. Kurt’s great, but there are other prospects on my radar.”

“Who’s the lucky guy?” Spencer smirked, noticing how Andrew’s dimples were accentuated with his grin.

Andrew pointed both thumbs at himself. “Bisexual, remember?”

Spencer nodded. “Ah, the ever-overlooked sexuality.”

“Don’t I know it? But there’s this one girl who I can’t seem to stop thinking about. There’s no point trying to ask her out, though. She barely even notices me.”

Spencer frowned. “Andrew, you’re a catch. You’re one of the only people who’s going to score higher than me on the SATs and you’re not too bad to look at.”

Andrew smiled widely before coughing. “So, hand me a book. I’m sure we can dig up some old precedent which applies to the case.”

Spencer tossed him a hardback and chuckled. “Let’s get to work.”

Emily giggled at Alison as she continued to blow a stray hair out of her face. Emily loved seeing Alison outside of school, all loose and allowed to just be herself. She allowed Alison the time to embody her façade in school, but couldn’t wait until she let her hair down and transformed back into the goofy, lovable closet nerd that Emily had fallen for.

After a few more attempts of ridding herself of the distracting strands of golden hair, Alison smiled genuinely as Emily’s nimble fingers tucked it behind her ear. Usually, Alison hated her hair being lodged behind her ear but, for Emily, it was somehow alright.

“I love this,” Emily sighed.

“This? My hair behind my ear?” Alison laughed.

“No, _us_. Being who we are. Being with _each other_. I never thought that you would love me back.”

The blonde snorted. “You think I thought _you_ would return my feelings? Look at you.”

 _“Look at you_ ,” Emily returned quickly.

Alison held up her hands. “Okay, this could go on _all_ night. Let’s just have our own opinions, shall we?”

Emily nodded and giggled again as Alison’s hair flew in her face again.

“This is _so_ not funny, Fields,” Alison quipped, but Emily disagreed.

Alison never really believed people when they said that uncontrollable laughter was infectious. As soon as Emily started to giggle, and _really_ giggle, so did Alison.

They never heard the door shut and the footsteps ascend the staircase.

Emily leaned into Alison for a kiss and the blonde complied.

Pam Fields chose the wrong moment to walk in.

“Mom! I thought you were—.” Emily stood up, brushing her pants.

Pam’s jaw clenched. “So that gives you the right to fool around in my house? With _her_?”

Alison blushed. “I’ll just leave.”

Emily shook her head. “No, you don’t have to. Stay there.”

Pam bit her lip. “No. Alison, you should go.”

“Mom!” Emily protested. “We were doing anything! We—.”

“You too, Emily.”

Alison stopped in her tracks as if a bomb had exploded in the adjacent room.

“What?” Emily frowned.

“I believe you understood me, Emily,” Pam said quietly. “Your father and I think that it would be best for you to leave.”

“ _Best for me_?”

Pam couldn’t help herself. “I can’t have _this_ going on in my house!”

“But it was fine when I was dating Ben!”

“Be quiet!” Pam snapped. “You were normal then. You proved to be such a disappoint to me and your dad.”

Alison winced, knowing how much that would have stung to Emily.

Pam continued, “You have an hour. Pack up everything you need. After that, I’m coming up and trashing the place. I don’t want to _ever_ see you again, do you understand?”

Emily felt like all the breath had been forced from her body. She felt like curling up in a ball and seeing where the wind took her. But she had to be strong. For Alison. For herself. “Okay.”

“One hour, Emily.”

With Alison’s help, it didn’t take that long for Emily to pack up her things. Alison sprinted home and grabbed another large bag to fit Emily’s clothes into.

“You’re staying with us, Em,” Alison soothed, zipping up the bag.

“Thank you, Ali.”

Within twenty minutes, Emily’s room looked barren. She didn’t really own that much stuff. Clothes, her memory box, her books and her laptop was basically everything. Strapping the bag over her shoulder, she asked Alison to wait outside. Her mother needed to know the kind of person she was.

“Mom,” Emily began.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Well, I don’t want to say it very much, either!” Emily shouted, getting Pam’s attention. “But you need to know that kicking me out isn’t going to change me. I’m going to love Ali forever. I’m never going to stop being a lesbian!”

“Don’t say that word!”

“Lesbian. It’s who I am. Though I was hoping you would see me for the girl I am underneath that. That’s what family is supposed to do! We love each other no matter what happens! Unconditional love, right Mom? That’s what you always used to say. Though I guess that only applies when it’s convenient for you!”

“Emi—.”

“I’m not done. You’re my mother, you’re supposed to be the one person in the world who understands me and loves me for who I am! I guess I was wrong to ever think that would actually happen. So _goodbye_ , Pam.” Emily spat the last sentence and slammed the door on her way out, shedding the tears that she could not have shed in front of her mother.

Emily gritted her teeth as she pulled out her phone.

_Mommy’s gone and Kurtie’s in jail…who’s next? It’s your choice, Em. I’ll see you soon –A_


	7. My Slowly Beating Heart

Kurt sat in his and Aria’s bedroom, phone tapping against his nose, rocking back and forth.

He had been granted bail, unsurprisingly. Despite the police’s (well, Wilden’s) intent on pinning this all on him, Alicia was the best a suspected criminal could hope for. She worked her magic at the bail hearing and the judge ruled in their favour. Kurt was overcome with happiness that he wouldn’t have to be remanded in custody and wondered whether things were going to start looking up from thereon out.

Of course they weren’t. And it wasn’t even –A that had ruined things this time. It wasn’t _exactly_ Alicia’s fault, but she had suggested that Kurt not see his friends until the case was over. Contact with them could hurt his case, apparently. He saw exactly how it could, but he wasn’t quite happy with how things were shaping up.

Ella popped her head around the door and smirked. “You have a visitor.”

Kurt frowned. “But I texted the girls not to come over. I bet it’s Hanna, isn’t it?”

Ella said nothing and disappeared, leaving Kurt’s mystery visitor to open the door fully, stepping into the room.

“I don’t quite look like Hanna, but I’m hoping I’ll do anyway,” Jason DiLaurentis smirked as Kurt sat upright, feeling a swirl of guilt in his stomach combined with the tingle that Jason’s smile usually left there in its wake.

“Jason.”

“I wanted to see how you were doing. I heard you got bail.”

Kurt tapped space on the bed and Jason sat down next to him, putting a tentative hand on his knee before squeezing it. Kurt shivered at the touch and smiled brightly. “Alicia was masterful. I don’t think they were going to grant it considering how much of the town hates me. Apparently, my safety was their main concern which I do not buy for one minute.”

“That sounds like the bullshit the Rosewood judicial system usually comes up with at the last minute,” Jason nodded. “How are you doing, anyway?”

Kurt sighed. He knew that he could be completely himself around Jason. There were no false pretences, he didn’t have to appear to be strong even when he wasn’t like he felt he had to do with his friends. “I’m kind of a mess. I thought I could just breeze through the trial, but it’s taking its toll on me. My bail hearing was like a party at your place. _Everyone_ seemed to be there.”

Jason was there, he knew. “More people to smirk at when you get off.”

“You sound so sure that I will.”

“Because I know you’re not a killer. You’re many things, Kurt, but you’re not a killer.”

Kurt opened his mouth slightly, thinking of his next words. “And just what things am I?”

Jason shrugged. “Beautiful, intelligent, talented, compassionate. You know, the usual.”

“You flatter me. Even when I don’t deserve it. Look, there’s something I should probably tell you before whatever _this_ is goes ahead.”

“You and Noel have something going on?” Jason guessed.

Kurt looked aghast. “What? Why would you say that?”

“I got a text. It wasn’t a number, but it was signed with –A.”

“Oh my god.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you about it, because I figured you had enough on your plate with the trial, but since it’s going there anyway…”

“Let’s start with what the text said,” Kurt suggested.

“It was a picture…of you and Noel hugging in the park. It looked pretty emotional. There was a caption that said _“Even if you don’t lose Kurt to jail, it looks like you’re losing him to Noel…”_ I knew that I probably shouldn’t believe it, but I have paranoia, so it’s difficult. I thought Noel was out of the picture.”

“Jason, it was a friendly hug. Nothing more, I promise. And…Noel was out of the picture.”

“Was?” Jason frowned.

Kurt sighed. “You know I’m always upfront and frank about everything, Jason. Noel was completely out of the picture. I hated him for everything he had done. But he wanted to talk to me alone and he did. He said that my prior feelings for him were not completely unrequited and that Jenna was blackmailing him about something so he couldn’t act on that. We hugged and nothing more. A part of me could feel everything coming back, but I think that was because I knew that he also liked me. When we hugged, a part of me thought of you and how it would feel to hug you.”

Jason considered this and cocked his head. “That part of you that thought of me? How prominent is it? I get that you have unresolved feelings for Noel and I can deal with that. But if we start something and you decide it’s him that you want? I’m not sure how I would come back from that. I hate asking you to make a decision like this but I need to know, Kurt. Do you want Noel or do you want me?”

Kurt looked up. Jason’s alluring smile completely send his head buzzing. He thought about this quickly, it wasn’t a decision he was actively prepared to make, but he knew what his choice would always be. Noel had hurt him too much in the past and, even though Kurt had forgiven him, it still mattered to him. Jason had never hurt him before and he didn’t think that he would. It didn’t seem to be that way. Kurt smiled.

“I want you, Jason. You make me feel safe, even when I’m on trial for murder. You make me feel like everything is going to be fine even when it doesn’t look that way.”

Jason beamed at him. “I was hoping you would say that.”

“I was hoping you’d let me,” Kurt replied as Jason wrapped his arms around him, pulling him closer. Kurt sank into the masculine embrace. His physique was similar to Noel’s, but the feelings were completely different. Kurt _did_ feel safe and knew that Jason would never hurt him. There was a moment as Jason pulled back that his lips brushed against Kurt’s cheek.

Kurt gasped as they ghosted along Kurt’s face until they reached his lips, grasping them in a tender embrace. It was beautiful, romantic and everything that Kurt had wanted his first kiss to be. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that anymore thanks to a corrupt cop, but he could always pretend that this was the way that it went. It was the way that it was supposed to go, after all.

Jason pulled back suddenly. “I hope I didn’t overstep my boundaries.”

Kurt smiled widely. “You didn’t. Not even close.”

“Good. Kurt, who is –A?”

Kurt reeled at the sudden question and swallowed heavily, moistening his dry throat. “I don’t know.”

Jason cocked his head. “Your face went pale when I mentioned the text. Have you had a text from them?”

Kurt considered lying, but he couldn’t lie when Jason’s face was staring at him in such a close proximity. It removed his inhibitions. “One.”

Or maybe he could.

“It was about the town thinking I had killed Jenna. I don’t know who sent it, though. At this rate, it could be anybody in Rosewood.”

Jason grasped his hand, looking intensely in Kurt’s multi-coloured eyes. “We’ll find them, Kurt. You’re going to be acquitted and we’ll find out who is sending these texts. Everything is going to go back to the way it used to be…with one obvious exception.”

“And what is that?”

“I get to do _this_ ,” Jason said before planting another firm kiss on Kurt’s lips.

Kurt felt his heartrate quicken in his chest as he leaned into the kiss, hands tracing Jason’s shoulders and chest. Pulling away reluctantly, he inhaled deeply. “Well that’s certainly a welcome change.”


	8. Broken Home

Aria adjusted her position in the armchair, opening her worn copy of _Pride and Prejudice_ to the first page, restarting the whole adventure for what felt like the thousandth time. She smiled to herself as she read the opening paragraph, finding it comforting to read something familiar, taking a break from everything that she was reading in class and all of the drama in her life. Mike was playing basketball, Ella was still at school doing her grading and Kurt was meeting with Alicia. The rare, fresh silence was disconcerting but not entirely unwelcome.

Her bliss was interrupted by the blare of the phone, chirping obnoxiously just out of arm’s reach behind her. She twisted to grab it, expecting Hanna’s voice from the speakerphone.

“Hello?”

“Aria!”

She stopped dead as Byron greeted her rather warmly through the phone. Before she could formulate a response, he continued on.

“I was hoping that you would pick up. I wanted to talk to you…about everything that’s happened recently.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Aria replied coldly.

“Just hear me out.”

“I don’t think I will. You’ve put us through more than enough crap lately.”

“I can explain all of it,” Byron tried, but Aria was definitely not in the mood for his excuses.

Aria sighed. “I don’t want you to! You cheated on Mom, made Kurt lie about it and then abused him when he told her about it. You’ve ruined this family and I don’t think anybody wants to hear from you! I just hope that Meredith was worth the fallout of your family. I can’t see any of us forgiving you anytime soon.”

Byron grew impatient. “Aria, would you just _listen_ to me for once?”

“I’ve listened to you before and that hasn’t ended very well. Kurt listened to you and look what happened! I’m _done_ listening to you. Don’t you get that?”

Aria hung up promptly, the whisper of her dad’s rebuttal lost in the heavy silence of the Montgomery house.

* * *

Kurt took in the fresh air of the park with a smile. Alicia had let him go for a short walk in the square, provided that he didn’t speak to anybody and didn’t wander off too far. He had gratefully accepted the offer and stuffed his earphones in his ears, the electronic beats of Lady Gaga’s debut album washing into his brain, filling it with nothing but distraction. That was exactly what he needed with everything going on. Being wrongly accused of murdering a classmate was _not_ going to look good on his college applications, but that was the least of his worries. –A had gotten what they wanted…for now, but Kurt didn’t know how long it was going to be until he or she got bored with the trial proceedings and started something else with one of the other girls.

“I was wondering when I’d see you again,” Noel Kahn’s sultry voice pierced the silence between songs. Kurt smiled passively and removed his earphones.

“Bail has its perks. I’ve missed the sunshine.”

“I’ve missed _you_ ,” Noel returned a little too easily.

“Look, Noel,” Kurt sighed, “I can’t do this. Things are problematic enough in my life without you circling around it.”

Noel smirked. “I don’t have to circle. I can dive right in if you want me to…Unless you’ve committed yourself to Alison’s older brother.”

Kurt stopped himself from replying and decided to check his phone, which was vibrating rapidly in his hand. He rolled his eyes as another text from –A rushed in.

_It’s not just me who has a secret, Kurtie. –A_

Attached was a picture of a text conversation, the contacts unknown. Gesturing for Noel to wait, Kurt zoomed in and read the short conversation.

_M: How’s the prank going?_

_K: It’s going. Getting there._

_M: Seems like it’s going to take a while. Earning back Montgomery’s trust won’t be easy. He’s like a rattlesnake._

_K: The gayest rattlesnake I ever saw._

_M: Funny._

_K: Pretending to be in love with him isn’t a picnic you know. It takes all my effort not to crack._

_M: Keep it up. It’ll be worth it._

_K: Oh, I know._

Kurt definitely knew who ‘K’ was, but M was a mystery he couldn’t be bothered with. He had had enough with single-lettered aliases who were after him.

The more pressing matter was the contents of the messages. Noel was pretending to have feelings for him to…play a prank on him. As if he wasn’t already going through enough distress.

“Noel…”

“Yeah?”

“So I’m a rattlesnake, huh?” Kurt was furious, but knew that it would not help his case if he blew up at Noel in the town square. He took three calming breaths and waited for Noel to reply. Noel’s face was stoic as ever.

“What?”

“Cracking yet?

“I don’t know what you mean,” Noel said.

“Don’t play stupid with me, Kahn. You pretended to have feelings for me. You were successful, I believed you. Great. But you didn’t hurt me. So you failed in that respect. That’s what you wanted, right? To hurt me?”

“Kurt, I can explain that.”

“I’m sure you can,” Kurt rebutted fiercely, “but it’s too bad I don’t have time for it. So you can stop playing this game and go back to hating me, if that’s what you were going to do anyway.”

Noel laughed wickedly. “As if _I_ could love _you_. You’re nothing, Montgomery. And you’re going to go to jail for what you’ve done.”

Instead of sticking around to gloat, Noel walked away, leaving a raging Kurt looking at his retreating back, unable to say anything.

He knew that anything he would say might incriminate him if anybody happened upon him screaming at Noel Kahn across the square. The people of Rosewood weren’t exactly his biggest fans.

Once Kurt got home, he documented the day in the only form he, as a Montgomery child, knew how. Journal entries.

_Dear Journal,_

_I’m sick of being manipulated by Noel Kahn. You would have thought I’d have learned my lesson by now. Fool me once, shame on him, fool me twice…well he did exactly that! I’m not angry, not really, because anger means caring and I don’t really care about Noel Kahn, not after what he did the first time._

_I have Jason now, and I really have him, and Noel is completely out of the picture, even after the incident in the park. Feelings can be confusing, but I know what I want. Now, I do. There was a moment when Noel was starting to look like an option, but I’ve had a crush on Jason for like forever. It’s basically public knowledge. Maybe they’re starting to stage lectures about it at Hollis._

_The trial’s coming up and Alicia seems to think that I have a good shot. She’s one of the best lawyers in the country and I’m actually innocent. Well, I’ll have to see how it goes. Fingers crossed?_

* * *

 

Kurt walked into the living room to see Aria and Mike sat cross-legged opposite each other, a plate of pizza on their laps. Obviously vegetarian for Aria and obviously the meatiest for Mike. Ham, sausage, pepperoni and bacon. Kurt didn’t know how a human could eat that without throwing up.

“Hey,” Aria greeted with a smile, “how was your walk?”

“I cleared my head a little bit,” Kurt replied, “it was enlightening. How were your days?”

Mike shrugged. “Good. Probably duller than yours.”

Aria smiled. “The girls miss you. Hanna wishes you were born a Marin so she could see you instead of me.”

Kurt chuckled. “I miss them. I can’t wait for this stupid trial to be over so things can get back to normal.”

“Can we talk about that?” Mike supplied. “The trial. I’m just confused. I don’t understand why you were arrested. You didn’t do it, so how do they have proof?”

Kurt smiled. “My thoughts exactly. I am…being framed. By who I don’t know. But you know that they found my bracelet in the shed, right? Well, someone put it there so it would look like it fell off when I put Jenna in there. But I’ve never even been in that shed. I didn’t do this.”

“I know,” Mike nodded, “I just didn’t know the specifics. Mom never really cleared it up for me. What are your chances in the trial?”

Kurt shrugged. “I can’t be sure. Alicia will look into the jury selection and that could influence everything. Whether they’re sympathetic to Jenna will play a big part in my probability. If they’re rational and believe me, then that’s good. I guess it all depends on how well Alicia does her job on the day. She’s well prepared, but things can always go wrong. The prosecution think they have a case, so they’ll build it all up on one misinformed detail. You guys might have to get used to the fact that here might be a three person household for a while.”

Mike frowned but then sighed. “Right. Three. No dad.”

Aria gritted her teeth. “He called me yesterday. He wanted to apologise and explain. I wouldn’t let him.”

“How did the dad we’ve known turn into somebody we didn’t even recognise?” Mike asked angrily.

Kurt swallowed. “No idea. He might come around, we don’t know. We’ve already misjudged him once, maybe we’re doing it again. Maybe he’s just going through some stuff.”

Mike shook his head. “Kurt, he _hit_ you. Good parents don’t do that. I know you’re trying to defend him, but he crossed a line.”

Aria agreed, surprised that her brother had such tight morals. She didn’t particularly enjoy the subject of her father, so she changed it. “So, Mike, I saw you today. Chatting with Mona Vanderwaal. Is there something going on between you guys?”

Mike blushed suddenly. “I…uh…I like her. She’s cool, I guess. We’re just hanging out sometimes. I know you and the rest of your friends don’t really like her and I’m not asking you to. Could you just be civil to her if she’s ever here? I don’t want to mess this up.”

“Sure,” Aria agreed easily, “we can do that. We don’t really know her. It’s just Alison. I can’t even remember when that whole vendetta started.”

Kurt smiled. “Mona was trying to prove that she could drive the masses away from Alison’s command. It didn’t work and Alison’s held that over her ever since. Still, Mona keeps on trying. She has a determined spirit.”

The three stayed up, merely chatting about trivial matters, until way after Ella went to bed. It hadn’t been that way for a long time, not since before Jenna’s death or even in that period of time. Mike had been quite withdrawn and there was almost something on his mind.

Even in the most dire circumstances, they could still enjoy each other’s company and enjoy their lives, even with the threat of –A still hanging over Kurt and Aria’s heads like an incessant raincloud. With the added stress of the trial, Kurt was glad for some levity in his life.

After all, he didn’t know how much longer he was going to be living in Rosewood without bars in between him and his family.


	9. Perfect Diagrams

Emily lay still, looking up at the plain white ceiling of Alison’s bedroom, the one that she had pegged as a metaphor for her life.

Her life with her family was unoriginal: her parents wanted her to be their perfect child and she had no other siblings to play with. She was forced into a strict routine and creativity was far from encouraged. It was, in some ways, like a chore to be part of her family. But now she was no longer part of that dynamic, so Emily thought that she would have felt more relieved about that. On the contrary, Pam’s harsh dismissal had been the worst thing that could have happened. She thought that it might have been her fault for keeping a journal, but how else was she supposed to document her feelings every day? And how was Emily to know that –A would have sabotaged her entire life by cruelly outing her to her parents? Emily decided that it wasn’t her fault and that Pam, Wayne and –A shared the blame. Wayne less so, because he was not physically there to contradict Pam’s style of parenting, but he had agreed over the phone, so he shared some of the responsibility for the dissolution of the Fields family.

It was only then, as the pain struck her, that she noticed the streaks of light silver shooting across the white, some of Alison’s design coming across in the art. Emily took that as a sign, too, and rather thought it reflected the girl who slept soundly next to her.

Alison thought of herself a plan white background, but Emily saw the dots of colour that made Alison the person she loved.

The girl stirred next to her and opened her eyes. “Em? You okay? I can practically hear you thinking.”

“I just can’t sleep,” Emily replied quietly, “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Alison frowned. “You didn’t, darling. What are you thinking about?”

Emily shrugged minimally. “The ceiling design.”

“Really? You’re lying awake studying my interior design skills?”

“I was bored.”

“Well, I’m awake now. Do you want to talk about anything?”

Emily sighed. “I miss my mom. I understand that she doesn’t want me the way I am and I’ve accepted that, so why do I still feel betrayed?”

Alison stroked her hair, kissing Emily’s forehead. “Honey, she’s your mom. Of course you’re going to still miss her. She’s an integral part of your life and she’s having trouble adjusting. I’m not saying that she’s right, because she’s absolutely _not_ , but it’s easy to see why you’re feeling resentful.”

Emily nodded. “I suppose, I’m just worried about everything at the moment. Will I ever be my mom’s daughter again? Is Kurt going to jail? What’s –A going to do next? I can’t make my head stop spinning.”

Alison grasped her hand, desperate to cheer her up or relax her or something. “I’m sure your mom will come around. Forgiving her is up to you. Kurt’s going to be fine. Mrs. Florrick knows what she’s doing and I’m sure she’s going to do an amazing job at the trial. As for –A, we’ll worry about that bitch when she strikes and not a minute before.”

“Who do you think killed Jenna?” Emily asked quickly and Alison chuckled musically. Emily never stopped loving the sound of that laugh and her stomach flipped knowing that it was produced for her on this occasion.

“You never rest, do you?” Alison smiled sweetly. “I don’t know, Em, but we’ll figure it out, whether Kurt goes down for it or not. I just know that he couldn’t have done it. I can’t have our— _my_ future family put on death row now, can I?”

Emily frowned, not having noticed Alison’s slip up. “Family?”

“Kurt and Jason finally got together!”

Emily beamed. She knew that Kurt had been interested for a while and was glad that he was into someone who wasn’t Noel Kahn. “That’s great! How do you feel about that?”

She shrugged in response. “Who better for my brother than one of my best friends?”

“Makes sense. Did Jason tell you this?”

“He’s so loud on the phone,” Alison rolled her eyes in the darkness, only faintly illuminated by the lamplight.

“You mean you were eavesdropping?” Emily smirked, knowing Alison like she did.

“My girlfriend, the detective,” Alison grinned back before it promptly faded. “I…hope I wasn’t too presumptuous.”

“Ali, we’re living together. Of course we’re girlfriends. If you want.”

Alison giggled. “Of course I do, dummy.”

Emily smiled. “Good,” she said and leaned in to kiss her girlfriend on the mouth. It was well received and Alison pulled her closer, eyes fluttering shut as she felt the pressure on her lips. She had waiting so long to kiss Emily and it had been so worth it. Emily was thinking the exact same thing. She still couldn’t quite believe that she was here in Alison’s bedroom, kissing her under a dimmed lighting.

As the kiss grew deeper and hands roamed in places they’d only dreamed of, it was clear what was about to happen. Alison pulled away slowly, looking her girlfriend in the eye. “Are you sure?”

Emily nodded. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my entire life. I’m with you.”

If they had been paying attention to their phones, they would’ve known what they were expecting the next morning when they awoke from their peaceful slumbers.

 _Is it just me, or were white ceilings made to be covered in red? –A_  


	10. History Repeating

Spencer grimaced as the pills sailed down her throat once again, water following shortly after. She had made a promise to herself to try and stop using, but she had definitely failed that endeavour. She knew how dangerous it was to have them as a crutch and she knew that she would have to stop eventually. Whether it was because somebody else but Wren or Kurt found out, Spencer didn’t know, but she knew that it would probably all end terribly for her.

So why couldn’t she stop?

With everything getting serious with Kurt’s trial, -A forever lingering around their heads like a storm and the pressure of her academics growing by the day, Spencer couldn’t find a way to stop herself from succumbing to the drug. When everything got too much, Spencer would rely on her medication.

She sighed, pulling out her phone and tapping automatically until she pulled up –A’s latest blast.

_With Kurt going to prison and Wren interested in more than just Melissa, it looks like someone else is going to have to tell your parents about your little habit. If you talk, so do I. –A_

She had grunted in an almost animalistic fashion when she had read that. Using her biggest flaw against her sounded exactly like something –A would do to ensure her silence.

And it worked. She would be silent. Spencer couldn’t risk anything about herself getting out. Her future depended on it.

She was disrupted from her thoughts by a low voice.

“Are you busy at the moment?” Wren asked, popping his head around her doorframe.

She smiled brightly “I can take a break. What’s up?”

Wren stepped into the room and leaned against the wall boyishly. “I just made a fool out of myself during a particularly difficult game of High-Low. You mind if I hide out here for a while?”

“N-No, not at all. I know how stressful those games can be, especially the aftermath when you lose. And I do say when. I’ve never won a game and we’ve been playing since I was seven. Whenever I do something particularly brilliant, Melissa always seems to come out on top. Sorry, I forgot who I was talking to for a second. I bet Mr. Oxford stands a good chance of winning.”

“You’d be surprised. The life of a med student isn’t always as promising as it seems on _Grey’s Anatomy_. Anyway, I wanted to see how you were doing with everything that’s going on.” His voice went from upbeat to concerned. Spencer hoped he wouldn’t bring it up ever again.

“Wren, we don’t have to talk about that. I’ve got it under control.”

Wren pouted awkwardly. “Uh, I was referring to your friend. The one that’s on trial for murder.”

“He didn’t do it!” That was Spencer’s default reaction to anybody mentioning Kurt lately. Even around Alison and Hanna when they had mentioned him.

“I wasn’t saying that he did, Spencer,” Wren replied calmly.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just get so angry when people think that Kurt is capable of murdering someone, he wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Your mother seems to think that he stands a good chance at trial.”

Spencer rolled her eyes. “Well, mother knows best, right?”

“I sense some animosity,” Wren noted, eyebrow raised curiously.

“Oh, you sense a lot of animosity. The dinner with the UPenn representatives was a complete disaster, as I could have predicted.”

“What happened?”

“Well, aside from the fact that—actually, you probably don’t want to hear about all of this. I’m sure you have other things to be doing.”

Wren smiled softly. “Then why did I ask?”

“It’s just…I wasn’t the reason the dinner was being had anyway. Melissa was the one doing all the talking and they finally turned to me only after they had asked for the check. I didn’t exactly made a good impression by staying silent through the whole dinner. I tried to make a joke about halfway in, but I could tell that my mother didn’t want me to speak, so I stopped.”

“That doesn’t sound very encouraging. I thought Veronica wanted you to go to UPenn. Why would she sabotage you?”

Spencer smiled falsely. “So she knows I’ve earned it without nepotism, I suppose. I can get in by myself, I just have to focus. Which is getting harder and harder to do when everything around me is getting more complicated by the day and my best friend might go to jail and—.”

“Spencer? Are you okay?”

“…yeah, I’ll be…fine…I just need to…”

Wren rushed over to her. “Spencer, you’re having a panic attack. Put your head between your knees and try to take long, even breaths. Do it with me. In. Hold it. Out. In again, that’s good. Now out. Good.”

“Thank you,” Spencer whispered.

“I do have a duty of care to help people in need of it. You’re welcome, though.”

Spencer looked up, noticing that Wren was sitting very close to her, hand on her knee. “Wren?”

“Yes?”

“Your hand.”

“Oh…I didn’t even realise. Sorry, I’ll just.”

Spencer found herself not wanting Wren to leave and her hand shot out, latching around his wrist. He turned back to her, eyes clouded over, and smiled crookedly. With his free hand, he met her face, stroking the smooth skin with his fingers before finally settling on the back of her head, daring to pull her closer. Spencer’s breath faltered and she dove forward, her lips crashing against Wren’s in a reckless moment of weakness.

Wren kissed back fully and that was when Spencer realised that –A wasn’t just taunting her just for the sake of taunting her. Whoever it was had a point about Wren and she was witnessing it firsthand.

She was kissing her sister’s boyfriend _again_.

No, _fiancé._

So why didn’t she want to stop?

“Wren,” she moaned, pulling her head away from his, resting it on the wall behind her. Wren quickly stood up, realising what he had just done.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that.”

“Me neither,” Spencer mumbled, embarrassed and ashamed of herself.

“ _Please_ don’t tell Melissa. I really want to make things work with her.”

That hurt Spencer and she winced slightly, though not enough for Wren to notice. He was clearly distracted by his infidelity. “I won’t say anything, I promise.”

“Thank you. I…I’ll see you around, Spencer.”

Spencer grunted, smashing a closed fist onto the bed below her, head pressed into the mattress. Why did she have to be so impulsive, so _weak_ towards her own desires. _Again_.

When she heard her phone ping, it was no big surprise. Of _course_ –A already knew about what she had done. She resigned herself to the fact that she was never going to be able to do anything without the anonymous stalker knowing about it. Spencer opened the text with bated breath anyway, the suspense killing her.

_Uh-oh Spencer! Your lips may be sealed, but I made no such promise. See you around, BFF! –A_

* * *

Spencer quietly hopped downstairs, making sure to avoid the creaky floorboards on steps three and five that she had mapped out during her first late night expedition when everybody was asleep. Her phone told her that it was four minutes past four in the morning, a perfect time to get things done. Her drugged up mind was running on overdrive, and she needed something to do that wasn’t schoolwork. She had finished that the previous hour after spending the three before that pacing, wondering what to do about the situation with Wren.

“Spencer.”

“Jesus, Mom! Why aren’t you in bed?”

“I feel like that’s a question we should be asking _you_ , Spencer.”

Peter Hastings entered from the hallway.

“Dad. I thought you weren’t back until tomorrow?”

“I was needed back here," he said simply.

“What’s going on? Is everything alright? Is someone sick?”

“Honey, calm down.”

Spencer used all of her effort to still herself as she took a seat, making sure that her quivering hands were not in view of her parents. “What’s up?”

“Wren left tonight. He told Melissa that he needed a break and took all his things. Didn’t tell her why and just left.”

“Oh my god. Is Melissa okay?”

Veronica shrugged. “She seems to be. Though you know your sister, she never expresses her feelings when other people are around. She’s staying with a friend in Philly for a few days to process all of this.”

Peter sighed. “That’s not all we need to talk about, Spencer.”

_Oh no. They know what happened._

“Your mother and I are concerned about you, Spence. You’re not sleeping well, you’re studying far more than usual and it’s not healthy.”

“I just want to do well.”

Veronica sighed. “We know, sweetie and we want to apologise for pushing you too hard. I know I make a big deal about you succeeding and I know I can put a lot of pressure on you at times.”

Spencer shrugged. “You just want the best for me, I know that. Sometimes it can be a little much, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“But you’ll tell me if I’m coming on too strong, right?”

“I will.”

“Thank you.”

“Am I…free to go?”

“Almost,” Peter smiled. “We wanted to talk to you about Kurt’s trial and how it’s affecting you.”

“Alicia’s going to get him off.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Spencer’s throat tightened. Of course she’d thought about what life would be like with Kurt in jail, but she hadn’t really dwelled on it. It had been difficult, but she knew that Alicia Florrick was Kurt’s best case scenario. “I’ll deal with that if it happens. I have to have faith that everything’s going to be fine.”

“Of course you do. Alicia seems to be doing a good job so far.”

Spencer couldn’t help the yawn that took over her body. She apologised to her parents and asked if she could be excused. They nodded shortly and she crept back upstairs. Her plan to make the most of the night hadn’t exactly come to fruition. Her phone lit up in her pocket and she rolled her eyes deeply, groaning.

It was a new picture message.

And Spencer knew exactly what the picture contained.

Tapping the screen, she saw a still image of her and Wren, tangled up in each other, lips intertwined. A pang of guilt hit Spencer in the stomach and she raced to her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

She scrolled down past the picture to see a short message. Obviously.

_Wren may have covered for you, but I have the proof. Piss me off and I’ll hit send. Kisses! Mwah! –A_


	11. A Heart To Repair

Hanna Marin was never really one for thinking about things too much. Sure, she thought long and hard about her outfit choices and what she was going to say during arguments, but there wasn’t really much more to it than that.

She usually just rolled with the punches, make the most of what life held in front of her without really questioning it too much.

Well, that was her new life philosophy.

Old, chubby Hanna had a very different outlook. She thought about things _way_ too hard, even when things weren’t that complex. One cookie turned into two to three hours of deep self-loathing, including the occasional pitiful phone call to one of her friends. She found that Alison and Spencer were the most understanding about her situation, but Kurt and Emily gave her the best advice. She didn’t count out Aria though, either. Sometimes, she would create a group call with a combination of her friends depending on what she needed. And, as she suspected, none of them disappointed her. They were always around for her to talk to.

Although with the situation in front of her, it was hard not to think about things. Kurt was facing prison time for something he didn’t do, there was an actual murderer running loose around Rosewood as well as someone who knew all of her secrets. They could be the same person, but Hanna didn’t think that was the case. -A would certainly want to frame Kurt for murder, but Hanna had her suspicions about -A’s motivations.

But today she had other things to think about.

As she had been working on her English assignment (Mr. Fitz could be a real hardass), her laptop had decided that it wasn’t going to cooperate with her any longer and broke down. She had punched all of the keys in frustration but, amazingly, that did not solve the issue. She Googled it on her phone, tried everything she could to fix it, but nothing was working.

Fucking technology.

Sighing, Hanna got up from her chair and wandered around the house absently, wondering what to do when inspiration struck her.

She picked up her phone, cautiously scanning for any messages from –A (sighing in relief when none came) and dialed Spencer’s number.

The reply came instantly.

“Hey, Han!”

“Spence! Thank god you picked up. How much do you know about computers?”

“More than your average millennial, but I’m no tech genius. Is it a simple fix?”

Hanna shrugged to herself. “I don’t know. I was doing homework and my laptop just…shut down. It won’t turn back on again and I don’t know how to fix it.”

Hanna heard Spencer sigh from the other end of the line. “That’s kind of…out of my expertise, but there’s someone I know who might be able to help you.”

“Great. Who is it?”

“His name’s Caleb Rivers. He just transferred in from…somewhere. Word on the street was that he can do anything technological if you paid him enough. I’ll text you his number, see if he does house calls. If not, I’ll come and try to help you if I can.”

“That’d be great, Spencer, thank you!”

“Hanna, by homework, do you mean online shopping?”

Hanna smirked. “Not this time. I actually mean homework. I don’t know what it is about Fitz, but he makes me want to do well in his class.”

Spencer chuckled. “Oh, please. You know _exactly_ what it is. He’s gorgeous and young and you like the way he smiles at you when you do something right.”

“Am I that obvious?”

“He’s just that cute.”

“You’re not wrong. Thanks again, Spence.”

“Of course.”

They hung up, an unspoken code among them that goodbyes aren’t necessary on the phone. It wasn’t rude if the conversation was dead.

Just like Jenna was.

Hanna shook that horrible thought from her mind, eviscerating the images of Jenna’s cold, lifeless body from her brain. It was just pretense, of course. She didn’t think that she would ever again forget seeing the dead body of one of her classmates. She was a bitch, but she was still a person with feelings and a family. Hanna didn’t understand how somebody could just kill someone like that, take away their life right before their eyes. Even more, she didn’t understand how people thought that _Kurt_ could do something like that. Those who knew him properly knew that he cried at sad movies and animal commercials. He wasn’t capable of murder or anything even remotely close to that. Sure, he was a cruel with his words sometimes, but only to those who wronged him first. And he rarely threatened. Only when it was truly needed.

Hanna’s phone pinged and her heart shot into her mouth. Remembering that she was expecting a text from Spencer and that it wasn’t going to be –A, she unclenched a little bit. She tapped the number Spencer had sent and hit call.

“Hello?” Caleb Rivers answered on the fourth ring.

Hanna grinned at the low voice she heard on the other end. Just one word and she didn’t know why she was smiling. “Hi, uh, my friend gave me your number and said you’d be able to fix my computer.”

A pause.

“Your friend was right. For a price, I can fix anything.”

“Of course. Do you, uh, do house calls?”

“It costs a little extra, but yeah I do. Is it urgent?”

Hanna bit her lip, wondering whether or not she could leave it. Thinking of Fitz’s adorable little smile, she shook her head to herself. “Not really. I have a paper due.”

“Alright. Hit me with your address and I’ll head over.”

Hanna gave him her address and he hung up. She unconsciously looked in the hallway mirror, stroking her hair. Putting a hand on her stomach, she breathed in deeply. Turning to the side, she appraised what she saw. Not bad. She had gained the tiniest bit of weight lately, but she had still kept her figure. It wasn’t enough weight for other people to notice, but her extraordinarily trained eye noticed the smallest bit of difference. She somehow felt the sandwich she had eaten mere hours ago festering in her stomach. Hanna swore she heard her organs grumble.

“No, you promised you’d stop,” she whispered to herself. A knock on the door startled her.

Already?

She found her heart beating as she walked nonchalantly to the door.

Sorting out her bangs, Hanna opened the door. Stood in front of her was a boy, tanned skin and beautiful eyes. He stared back at her, smiling politely.

“You called for assistance?”

Hanna blinked. “Yes. That was me. I called. You’re Caleb Rivers, right?”

“The one and only,” Caleb smirked, stepping past Hanna into the house as she allowed him entry.

Hanna closed the door and took a minute to marvel at his perfection. That smirk, the voice. Everything. Goodbye Mr. Fitz, there was a new sheriff in the town of Hanna’s sexual fantasies. And his name was Caleb Rivers.

“Your house is really nice,” Caleb said, somewhat devoid of any tone.

Hanna rolled her eyes. “That’s what you say to polite grandmothers. My laptop is in the kitchen.”

“Lead the way, princess.”

Hanna glowered at him, pretending that she didn’t love the…compliment? Was it? Hanna couldn’t be sure. She figured that Caleb had this air of superiority around him, that was above most of the girls in Rosewood who were supposedly shallow and only obsessed with their vanity and the latest clothing lines. Hanna loved clothes, but she had integrity and spirit, too. In spades. Then again, she had been compared to Cinderella quite a few times. It wasn’t the worst thing a girl could be called.

Hanna led the boy to her computer and she stood to the side as he inspected it.

“Hmm, have you tried turning it on?”

Hanna rolled her eyes. “Yes, Penelope Garcia, I have. Any other tips you want to give me?”

Caleb tapped on a few keys and moved the trackpad. Running his fingers along the sides and checking the charger was plugged in, he looked up at her.

“What were you doing before it switched off?”

“Homework.”

Caleb smirked. “Sounds like bullshit to me.”

“It’s really not. Usually, I’d think that too, but I’m actually doing work.”

Caleb hummed, not really believing her story. “Well, you mind if I look inside the thing?” He shrugged his backpack from his shoulder.

“As long as you don’t lose the work I did, then yeah, sure.”

Caleb smirked. “You know, you should save your work often to prevent lost information and work files.”

Hanna scoffed. “Okay, did I ask, Jimmy Neutron? Just do the thing I’m paying you to do.”

“I didn’t realise we were recreating _Pretty Woman_. If you just put your money on the table, I’ll be done in about an hour.”

She folded her arms and took a seat. “I want to know how you do this in case it happens again.”

“Well, if it happens again, you can just call me again. That’s kinda why I’m in business.”

“Fine. Do you want something to drink?”

Caleb blinked in surprise. “Just some water would be good, thank you.”

As Hanna walked across the room to the sink, she felt herself growing nervous, her heart hammering in her chest. This wasn’t like the feeling she had gotten when around Sean.

Sean had never made her this nervous, this on edge just by talking. There was something about the way that Caleb spoke to her, the witty banter that set her nerves alight with every word. His stupid little smirk and the lighthearted way he talked down to her. It wasn’t condescension, it was humour. It was the way that Caleb seemed to operate: making other feel inferior for comedic purposes. He wasn’t being patronising, just funny. And Hanna appreciated it; it was definitely up her alley. Sean was never really like that with her.

And he had never made her feel the way she was feeling now.


End file.
